Arrhythmias
What are they?
Arrhythmias are abnormal rhythms of your heartbeat. This means your heart may beat too slowly (bradycardia), too fast (tachycardia) or in an irregular pattern. These abnormal rhythms can occur when the electrical impulses coming from your heart don’t fire as they normally should.
There are many types of arrhythmias that can occur with varying degrees of symptoms, including:
- Bradycardia: Your heart rate is too slow, causing you to tire easily or too quickly and feel dizzy or faint. The most common treatment is a pacemaker, which restores a normal heartbeat.
- Tachycardia: Your heart rate is too fast while you're at rest. Treatments vary from anti-arrhythmic drugs to ablation (surgical) procedures to change the electrical properties of your heart.
- Atrial fibrillation (Afib): You feel like your heart is racing and fluttering, causing shortness of breath. It's the most common type of arrhythmia and can put you at risk of a stroke. Treatments include blood-thinning medications or ablation (surgical) procedures.
- Ventricular fibrillation: The lower chambers (ventricles) of your heart are racing so rapidly, they quiver and stop pumping blood normally. This is immediately life-threatening and requires an electric shock from a defibrillator to restore a normal rhythm.
- Conduction disorders: You have abnormalities in the electrical impulses in your heart.
- Long QT syndrome: You have a rapid heartbeat that can make you faint. It’s often an inherited condition. Treatment involves medications, surgery or an implanted device.
If you’re having symptoms that are interfering with daily living — causing fatigue, fainting or chest pain — you should be evaluated by a physician to diagnose if an arrhythmia is the cause.
Robotic cardiac ablation
The heart is a powerful muscle, pumping a constant supply of blood to your entire body. At the same time, it is extremely delicate and intricate. Safe catheter navigation through each chamber of your heart is essential, so it is important for doctors to use the best technology available. Our physicians use innovative and leading-edge robotic ablation technology to treat arrhythmias, as well as cardiac ablation.
Cardiac ablation is a common, minimally invasive, treatment. It’s used to diagnose arrhythmias and deliver energy that isolates misbehaving heart muscle cells, allowing for a safer and more effective procedure.
What are some of the benefits?
- Short procedures and fast recovery time of a few days
- Less exposure to X-ray radiation
- Reduced risk of complications due to perforation of heart tissue