Heart Arrhythmia

The Palm Beach Health Network is focused on helping get your heart into the right rhythm. As part of our high-quality heart health care, we are proud to offer our patients an advanced electrophysiology program where our team of specialists use innovative technologies to diagnose and treat interruptions and irregularities in heart rhythm.

What is Heart Arrhythmia?

Have you ever felt like your heart’s rhythm is not normal, like your heart is beating too fast or too slow? If so, your heart’s electrical system could be experiencing a problem called arrhythmia, or also known as irregular heartbeat. This heart issue can cause a significant burden in your health and your day-to-day activities, from simply making you feel weak to causing a total heart failure.

The good news is the Palm Beach Health Network has experienced teams who specializes in electrophysiology, a kind of test that doctors perform to help diagnose and treat different types of arrhythmia. Combining expertise and advanced technology, our cardiac electrophysiologists’ goal is to help your heart and life get back to the right rhythm as early as possible.

How Serious Is Heart Arrhythmia?

Arrhythmia usually occurs when the electrical signals that affect your heartbeat are not working properly or due to changes in your heart tissue and activity. It may also happen because of stress, blood imbalances, medicines or the cause may be unknown. If you’re living with arrhythmia, please work closely with your doctor for a treatment plan. This may help keep you from experiencing irregular heartbeat again or prevent it from getting worse.

Some of the most common heart arrhythmia symptoms include:

• Palpitations, rapid heartbeat or pounding in the chest
• Weakness or fatigue
• Low blood pressure
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Fainting or near-fainting experiences
• Shortness of breath
• Anxiety
• Chest pain or pressure

When left untreated, arrhythmia may keep the heart from pumping enough blood to the body which can eventually damage the brain, the heart and other organs to the point of becoming life-threatening. At its worst, heart arrhythmia may lead to collapsing or a sudden cardiac arrest. Arrhythmia can also increase your risk for stroke and heart failure.

What Are The Common Types of Arrhythmia?

In general, heart arrhythmias are categorized by the speed of heart rate they cause and where they begin in the electrical pathway.

Tachycardia: This fast heart rhythm causes a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute

Bradycardia: This slow heart rhythm causes a heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute

Premature Heartbeat: A premature, or extra, beat is a common, usually harmless type of arrhythmia that typically does not cause symptoms. Most healthy people who experience an occasional extra beat do not need treatment. However, if you have heart disease, a premature heartbeat can lead to a longer-lasting arrhythmia.

Supraventricular Arrhythmias: These arrhythmias are tachycardia that occur in the atria or the atrioventricular (AV) node, specialized tissue that conducts electrical signals from the atria to the ventricles. Types of supraventricular arrhythmias include:

• Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)
• Atrial Flutter
• Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia (PSVT)
• Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

Ventricular Arrhythmias: Tachycardias that begin in the lower chambers of the heart can be life-threatening and require immediate medical attention. Types of ventricular arrhythmias include:

• Ventricular Tachycardia (VT)
• Ventricular Fibrillation (Vfib)
• Torsades De Pointes
  

Atrial Fibrillation

If you have Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), you are not alone. Some 2.7 million people in the United States suffer from this disease. The Palm Beach Health Network is at the forefront of treatment options for Atrial Fibrillation, including the full spectrum of traditional, minimally invasive, and surgical treatments

Atrial Fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) which causes numerous debilitating symptoms. Symptoms can include:

• Palpitations
• Chest p
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Confusion

Leaving persistent AFib untreated can lead to blood clots, stroke and heart failure, as well as other heart-related complications.

Common Treatments for Atrial Fibrillation

There are many things to consider when it comes to treating AFib. Treatment options can include medications, nonsurgical procedures and surgical procedures. The treatment plan can vary based on:

• Severity
• Presence of other medical issues
• How long AFib has been present

Minimally-Invasive Treatment Options for A Fib

Arial Fibrillation Ablation

Atrial fibrillation ablation involves threading a long, thin, flexible tube called a catheter into the heart through a blood vessel in the arm, upper thigh, or neck. Live X-ray images or ultrasounds are used to carefully guide the catheter into the heart. Several flexible tubes with electrodes on the tips are run through the catheter and placed in different areas of the heart. Sections of the heart are then mapped to locate abnormal tissue.

Energy is applied to destroy targeted tissue that has been identified as causing the irregular heartbeat. Two types of energy that can be used in the procedure are radiofrequency or liquid nitrogen to freeze the targeted area of the heart. The resulting RF line then acts as a barrier between affected tissue and the rest of the healthy heart, stopping abnormal electrical signals that cause an irregular heartbeat.

Convergent Procedure

The Palm Beach Health Network was the first in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin County to offer a minimally invasive procedure that combines the best of electrophysiology and cardiac surgery treatments to help restore normal heart rhythm for longtime sufferers of atrial fibrillation, or AFib. Early clinical experience has shown that the convergent approach, conducted in a single operating room setting, improves early outcomes for the most challenging patients and reduces procedure times when compared to approaches where the two disciplines work separately.

How it Works

Our cardiac surgeons and electrophysiologists (EPs) work together to perform cardiac ablation on a beating heart using radiofrequency (focused heat) to produce barrier tissue on the heart to block abnormal electrical signals. The surgeon is able to create comprehensive, linear barriers on the outside surface of the beating heart through a small, one-inch incision made in the patient’s abdomen. There are no chest incisions and/or ports, as in other surgical ablation procedures. The EP then threads a catheter through the patient’s femoral vein, in the groin, to reach the heart and fill in any gaps in the ablation. The EP utilizes diagnostic techniques to confirm that all abnormal electrical signals have been interrupted. The entire procedure lasts roughly half the time of a single-discipline catheter ablation procedure.

Laparoscopic Atrial Fibrillation Surgery

AFib can be treated laparoscopically and new minimally invasive surgeries are available for select patients. These minimally invasive options include the following benefits:

• Takes a fraction of the time of a standard operation
• Reduce blood loss
• Quicker recovery times
• Left Atrial Appendage Closure

Blood thinning medications are a common treatment for atrial fibrillation but they aren’t suitable for everyone. If you can’t take medication, your doctor might recommend a procedure to close your left atrial appendage to prevent blood collecting in your left atrial appendage. The left atrial appendage closure procedure closes off the opening of your left atrial appendage, which is a small pouch, shaped like a windsock, found in the top left of your heart (the left atrium).