Restoring irregular heartbeats to a healthy rhythm
An arrhythmia is an abnormal or irregular heartbeat caused by a disturbance in the electrical impulses that coordinate your heart rate. This can cause your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. When the heart doesn’t beat properly, it can’t effectively pump blood to your body.
Some arrhythmias may be harmless, but others can be life-threatening or a sign of a further heart problem. They also can increase your risk of stroke and heart failure if not treated. This is why it’s important to have your heart evaluated by an electrophysiologist, a heart rhythm specialist who diagnoses and treats arrhythmias.
The physicians in our Cardiac Electrophysiology Program are highly trained advanced subspecialists who manage even the most complex arrhythmias.
Symptoms
What are the symptoms of cardiac arrhythmia?
Some people with an arrhythmia don’t feel any symptoms. Others describe their symptoms as feeling like their heart is racing, slowing down or skipping a beat.
Additional symptoms may include:
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
Causes
Arrhythmias can be caused by many things, including:
- Certain medications, including over-the-counter cold and allergy drugs
- Drinking too much caffeine or alcohol
- Drug abuse
- Family history of arrhythmias
Prior heart attack
- Smoking
- Stress
Types of cardiac arrhythmias
A normal heart beats 60 to 100 times a minute. Arrhythmias are most often classified by the speed of heart rate they cause.
Tachycardia: The most common type of arrhythmia, tachycardia causes the heart to beat faster than 100 beats a minute.
Bradycardia: This refers to a slow heartbeat, less than 60 beats a minute.
Arrhythmias also are classified by where they begin in the heart: the atria (the upper chambers of the heart) or the ventricles (the lower chambers). These can include:
Atrial fibrillation (AFib), in which the heart’s two upper chambers do not beat in sync with the two lower chambers.
Atrial flutter, which is similar to AFib, but which is characterized by a less chaotic heartbeat.
Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), a rare inherited condition that causes abnormal heart rhythms during physical activity or in response to stress.
Long QT syndrome, a heart rhythm disorder that increases your risk of rapid, chaotic heartbeats.
Sick sinus syndrome, in which the sinus node, your heart’s pacemaker, doesn’t properly send electrical impulses.
Supraventricular tachycardia, which is a broad term that includes many forms of arrhythmia in the atria.
Ventricular fibrillation, which occurs when rapid electrical impulses cause the ventricles to beat ineffectively and no longer pump blood properly.
Ventricular tachycardia, a rapid, regular heart rate that originates in the ventricles.
Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, a congenital heart defect in which there is an extra electrical pathway between the atria and ventricles.
Tests
Cardiac Catheterization
Cardiac catheterization is a minimally invasive way to diagnose and treat a variety of heart and vascular conditions by guiding thin, flexible tubes called catheters through blood vessels to problem areas.
Chest X-ray
Chest X-rays use a small dose of radiation to create pictures of the structures inside the chest, including the lungs, heart, and chest wall.
Echocardiogram
An echocardiogram uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of your heart.
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
An electrocardiogram, also known as an ECG, measures the heart’s electrical activity.
ElectrophysiologyTesting
Electrophysiology testing is used to evaluate the cause and location of an abnormal heartbeat (known as an arrhythmia).
Event Monitors
An event monitor is a small device that records the heart’s electrical activity. It’s similar to an electrocardiogram, but where an electrocardiogram takes place over a few minutes, an event monitor measures heart rhythms over a much longer time.
Holter Monitors
A Holter monitor is a small device that records the heart’s electrical activity. It’s similar to an electrocardiogram, but whereas an electrocardiogram records over a few minutes, a Holter monitor records over the course of a day or two.
Loop Recorder
A loop recorder is a device that’s implanted underneath the skin of your chest to record your heart rhythm for up to 3 years.
Stress Tests
Stress tests are used to assess how your heart works during physical activity. There are several types of stress tests, including treadmill or bike stress tests, nuclear stress tests, stress echocardiograms, and chemically induced stress tests.
Tilt Table Test
Tilt table testing allows your doctor to determine the cause of explained fainting while monitoring changes in your blood pressure and heart rate while tilted at different angles.
Arrhythmia treatments
Treatment will depend on the type and severity of your arrhythmia. In some cases, medication and lifestyle changes may be enough to manage the condition. More advanced treatment options may include electrical devices, minimally invasive procedures or surgery..
Cardiac Ablation
Cardiac ablation uses heat or cold to destroy heart tissue causing abnormal heart rhythms known as arrhythmias.
Catheter Ablation For Atrial Fibrillation
Catheter ablation is a minimally invasive procedure that uses heat or cold to destroy heart tissue causing atrial fibrillation, a type of abnormal heart rhythm.
Leadless Pacemakers
A leadless pacemaker is a small capsule placed in the heart’s right ventricle that delivers an electric pulse to regulate the heartbeat.
Pacemaker
A pacemaker is a device that helps control various types of heart rhythm disorders.
Our providers
Location: Change location Enter your location
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Tamara Ashvetiya, MD
Cardiology
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Valeriani R Bead, MD
Cardiology
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Kathryn S. Beaudoin, AGACNP-BC
Cardiology
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Abigail Escalona Davenport, ACNP-BC
Cardiology
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Margaret Harvey Granitto, CRNP
Cardiology
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Kristina Marie Hidalgo, ACNP-BC
Cardiology
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John J. Kennedy, MD
Cardiology
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Alena Lira, MD
Cardiac Critical Care
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Adinath A Patil, MBBS
Cardiology
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Alexander Ryzhikov, MD
Cardiology
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Virginia E. Seay, FNP-BC
Cardiology
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Amish V Shah, MD
Cardiology
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Jacquelyn Marie Smith, PA-C
Cardiology
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Megan Joy Zemrose, PA
Electrophysiology
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Newton Edison Andrews, MD
Cardiology
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Ieon Lloyd Osborne Dawson, MD
Cardiology
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Additional information
Electrophysiology Program
We are leaders in developing and using the latest procedures and technologies to treat heart rhythm disorders, and our cardiac electrophysiology laboratory is one of the most sophisticated in North America.
Ask MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute
Have general questions for our heart and vascular program? Email us at AskMHVI@medstar.net. If you have clinically-specific questions, please contact your physician’s office.