So maybe we’ve done rate control and you’re still not ok. Or perhaps the atrial fibrillation is at the stage where it comes and goes. Maybe we should try to get and keep you in a normal rhythm. There are a few strategies to do this. The simplest is a DC cardioversion. This uses anContinue reading “Atrial Fibrillation – rhythm control, but how?”
Category Archives: Heart Rhythm
Atrial fibrillation – rate or rhythm control?
So if you have atrial fibrillation what’s the first thing that needs to be sorted? In the absence of medicines or heart disease the heart races at over 150 beats per minute. This can feel very uncomfortable – a sensation the heart is racing combined with breathlessness and fatigue. If there are other heart problemsContinue reading “Atrial fibrillation – rate or rhythm control?”
Atrial Fibrillation – an introduction
So what is Atrial Fibrillation?
His Bundle pacing
This is a really funny name. It makes no sense to anyone except Cardiologists who remember that there was a person who identified a bundle of specialised conduction tissue within the heart. That person was Wilhelm His Jr, hence the name “Bundle of His”. It is pronounced Hiss rather than Hiz, by the way. SoContinue reading “His Bundle pacing”
Fitbit – curse or cure?
I’ve seen a few patient now because they’ve been worried about their Fitbit heart rate reports. The Fitbit is an amazing bit of kit that can constantly monitor your heart rate. It’s worn on the wrist and is a step up from the older chest strap monitors that are widely used in sport, mainly becauseContinue reading “Fitbit – curse or cure?”
Radiotherapy for Ventricular tachycardia
An amazing article in the New England Journal of Medicine this week. This is the preeminent medical journal across the world. They’ve just published the experience of 5 patients who had radiotherapy to treat ventricular tachycardia. Ventricular tachycardia is a dangerous heart rhythm disturbance that is most frequently caused by electrical short circuits around scarContinue reading “Radiotherapy for Ventricular tachycardia”