Arrythmias

Question 1

possible patient presenting complaints(symptoms)

Answer 1

palpitations (usually benign), tachcardia, missed beat. slow heartbeat

Question 2

arrythmia meaning

Answer 2

defined change in heart rhythm, often by 12 lead ECG
could also use 24 for hour tape(long term ECG)

Question 3

how to monitor heart from home

Answer 3

KARDIA Alivecor- take ECG by placing fingers on pad
implantable loop recorder- quick procedure to put inside patient and can monitor for 3 years

Question 4

mechanisms of arrythmias

Answer 4

abnormal impulse generation- automaticity of automatic cells ectopic beat’s vary
abnormal inpulse conduction- re-entry conducting loop- leads to continous circulation

Question 5

serious(fatal) arrythmias

Answer 5

palpitations- leads to conciousness loss, family history os sudden cardiac death
ventricular arrhythmias- tachycardia, fibrillation
normally obvious cause such as myocardial infarction, severe LV dysfunction

Question 6

rare inherited cardiac diseases

Answer 6

sudden collpase during exercise
sudden cardiac death in young family members
eg- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmic right ventricular dysplasia, ion channel mutations

Question 7

risk of screening for causes of cardiac arrhythmias in young people

Answer 7

can be difficult to identify
may yield false positive

Question 8

bradyarrhythmias symptoms

Answer 8

slow heart rate, dizziness, breathlessness, blackouts
can lead to complete heart block

Question 9

common arrhythmias symptoms

Answer 9

ventricular ectopic beats
atrial fibliration/ flutter
supraventricular tachycardia

Question 10

ectopic beat

Answer 10

an extra ‘thump’ in heart occurs when depolarisation affects ectopic foci which can appear as heart skipping a beat

Question 11

supraventricular tachycardia

Answer 11

caused AV nodal re-entry or accessory pathway
sudden onset of very fast heart rate can also stop very abruptly

Question 12

atrial fibrilation

Answer 12

rises from pulmonary veins which produces abnormal electrical wavelengths
palpitations, breathlessness, heart failure, or thromboembolic stroke

Question 13

atrial flutter

Answer 13

fluuter waves
arise from right atrium with the fluuter circuit

Question 14

treating arrythmias

Answer 14

lifestyle modification
anti- arrhythmic drugs
interventional procedures
implantable defibrillators

Question 15

radiofrequency ablation cathers

Answer 15

delivers localised electric pulse
can isolate pulmonary veins to treat atrial fibliration(doesn’t reduce risk of stroke)
can send shock to right atrium for atrial flutter
can send shock to AV node for supraventricular tachycardia
can send shock to ectopic foci for ectopic beats