What is ventricular tachycardia? Palpations are almost always a sign of ventricular tachycardia. Learn all about this dangerous condition!
Palpations are almost always a sign of ventricular tachycardia. Occurring for weeks or even months after a heart attack, this condition is one that will occur in many different forms of heart disease that can damage the ventricles. When a sustained ventricular tachycardia which is one lasting at least 30 seconds occurs it can be extremely dangerous and will often require emergency treatment. Sustained ventricular tachycardia occurs when the ventricles cannot fill adequately and pump blood normally. When this happens the patients blood pressure will fall and if not treated immediately the result can be heart failure. When this condition is left untreated deterioration can continue until a form of cardiac arrest called ventricular fibrillation occurs.
In many cases there are few symptoms when ventricular tachycardia occurs even if the heart beats reach rates of up to 200 beats per minute. This condition is usually diagnosed by the use of an electrocardiogram or ECG. With this condition each heart beat is initiated for the electrical activity in the lower heart chambers or ventricles rather than in the sinoatrial node in the upper heart chambers. This causes an abnormally fast heart rate that is usually between 140 and 220 beats per minutes. Caused by serious heart disease such as myocardial infarction, better known as a heart attack, or cardiomyopathy, this condition can last any where from a few seconds to several days. Using an ECG, which shows a rapid succession of abnormal heart beats caused by an abnormal focus of electrical activity in the ventricle when this condition is present, a doctor can diagnose this condition.
In most cases treatment is given whether the patient has symptoms of ventricular tachycardia or not. Any time the blood pressure falls below normal cardioversion is immediately needed. In some cases the doctor will administer lidocaine or a similar drug intravenously to suppress the ventricular tachycardia. When this does not stop the episodes, most doctors will conduct an electro- physiologic study and administer other drugs. Which ever of the drugs that are administered that works best to stop the occurrences of ventricular tachycardia is the one that will be continued. With some cases of sustained ventricular tachycardia a small area in the ventricles is found to be abnormal. In this case the abnormality can be surgically removed to stop the episodes.
When ventricular tachycardia does not respond to the various different drug therapies it is sometimes necessary for doctors to use a device known as an automatic cardioverter defibrillator. This device is surgically implanted into the patient to control the episodes. In all severe cases emergency treatment is necessary using cardioversion which is the administration of electric shock to the heart or by injection of an anti-arrhythmic drug. The drug is, in most cases, continued by mouth for several months after the episode. With all episodes of ventricular tachycardia, if left untreated the result can be heart failure or even death. The heart ventricles are the pumping chambers which receive blood from the atria or upper heart chambers, pumping it out to the lungs and the rest of the body.
