An arrhythmia is a problem with the speed or rhythm of the heartbeat. During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm. A heartbeat that is too fast is called tachycardia. A heartbeat that is too slow is called bradycardia. Most arrhythmias are harmless, but some can be serious or even life threatening. When the heart rate is too slow, too fast, or irregular, the heart may not be able to pump enough blood to the body. Lack of blood flow can damage the brain, heart, and other organs.
Even though previous research has shown that fatty acids from fish oil reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, patients with implantable defibrillators who took fish oil supplements did not see a reduction in serious heart rhythm abnormalities, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Loyola University Health System is one of the first hospitals in the United States to employ new high-tech imaging software - in conjunction with a three-dimensional cardiac mapping and navigation system - to locate more accurately the abnormal electrical impulses that produce heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). This technology represents a major breakthrough in treating complex arrhythmias.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues from Boston area medical institutions have linked short term high pollution concentrations with an increased incidence of irregular and very dangerous heart arrhythmias among a group of cardiac patients from the greater Boston area who had implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD).
As many as 15,000 sudden deaths each year in Europe and the U.S., may be caused by drugs commonly prescribed for psychiatric and gut disorders.
Non-cardiac drugs that interfere with the electrical activity controlling the heartbeat are associated with a three-fold risk of sudden cardiac death, according to Dutch research published (Wednesday 11 May) in Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal.
The research group of professor Manfred Kilimann at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology has elucidated the genetic cause of a severe heart disease in newborn children. This result will be published in the June issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics this week.
In the best documented effort to date, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have successfully induced adult heart-muscle cells to divide and multiply.
Among patients undergoing evaluation for coronary artery bypass surgery, stroke neurologists are frequently consulted when the patient also has severe carotid artery stenosis (blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain).
A first-of-its-kind multi-center trial has shown that cooling the body can have positive affects on children who suffered traumatic brain injury.
Among patients undergoing evaluation for coronary artery bypass surgery, stroke neurologists are frequently consulted when the patient also has severe carotid artery stenosis (blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain).
Taking daily supplements of fish or soy oil may improve cardiac function and protect against heart attacks in the short-term. Study results published in the April issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, are the first to show that soy oil increases heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac autonomic function.
Freezing abnormal electrical pathways in the hearts of young patients may be a safer alternative to zapping them with powerful radiofrequency probes in order to treat tachycardias and other arrhythmias, according to a new study in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The first double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial of VEGF gene injections into the heart muscle of patients with coronary artery disease with the intention of spurring growth of new blood vessels showed significant effects on heart wall motion, although blood flow was not significantly better in treated patients, according to a new study in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Asthma is the most common cause of exercise-induced shortness of breath in children and adolescents. While a diagnosis of asthma is often correct, University of Iowa pediatric pulmonary physicians caution that other unrelated conditions also can cause shortness of breath during exercise.
Mice with glowing green hearts have yielded the latest clue in the search for molecules involved in structural heart disease. Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators found that blocking the activity of a single protein, called CaM kinase, in the mouse heart protects against the damaging effects of a heart attack.
Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center physicians are among the first in the country to use a new form of technology to treat distant, malfunctioning areas inside the heart that cause irregular heartbeats, or cardiac arrhythmias.
A Johns Hopkins undergraduate student has contributed to new research showing that electrical changes in the heart leading to heart failure can occur long before a patient exhibits any clinical symptoms.
Implanted devices intended to optimize the cardiac function of patients with heart failure have provided new insights into which patients might be at higher risk of dying suddenly from their disease, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
In new medical guidance for England and Wales published today, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) promotes the expanded use of dual-chamber pacemakers for treating slow heart rhythms, called bradycardia, which affect an estimated 100,000 people in the UK.
This data refutes previous evidence which suggested a high incidence of injury to a patient's cardiac nerves, possibly resulting in accelerated heart rates following the procedure.
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