Arrhythmias

Arrhythmias: Introduction

An arrhythmia is a disorder of the heart's beating rhythm. When it causes a noticable change in the sound of a beat, when heard by a doctor's stethoscope, it is often called a "heart murmur". There are various different types of arrhythmias ranging from almost harmless to very serious. Correct diagnosis of the specific subtype and any underlying condition is extremely important.

Symptoms of Arrhythmias

• No symptoms - some arrhythmias go unnoticed
• Heart palpitations
• Symptoms depend on the type of Arrhythmia
• more symptoms...»

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Arrhythmias:

• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Hypertension Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Home Blood Pressure Testing
  • Home Cholesterol Testing
• more tests...»

Arrhythmias: Complications

Read more about complications of Arrhythmias.

Medical Textbooks Online about Arrhythmias

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Arrhythmias

• Physical exam
• Stethoscope
• Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Resting ECG
  • Exercise ECG (stress test)
• more tests...»

See full list of 8 diagnostic tests for Arrhythmias

Wrongly Diagnosed with Arrhythmias?

• Misdiagnosis of Arrhythmias
• Failure to diagnose Arrhythmias
• Hidden causes of Arrhythmias (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Arrhythmias

Arrhythmias: Self Assessment Tools

• Stroke -- Self Assessment Tools
• Heart Attack -- Self Assessment Tools
• Stress -- Self Assessment Tools
• Smoking -- Self Assessment Tools
• Weight Management -- Self Assessment Tools
• Heart Disease -- Self Assessment Tools
• more tools...»

Arrhythmias: Medical Mistakes

• Hypertension -- Health Mistakes
• Cholesterol -- Health Mistakes
• Obesity -- Health Mistakes
• Diabetes -- Health Mistakes
• Metabolic Syndrome -- Health Mistakes
• more mistakes...»

Arrhythmias: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for Arrhythmias:

• Dieting & Weight management: products & offers »
• Heart health products & offers »
• High cholesterol
• more product offers...»

Arrhythmias: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Chronic Major Diseases that are commonly Undiagnosed:
  • High Cholesterol -- Undiagnosed
  • Heart Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Cancer -- Undiagnosed
  • Depression -- Undiagnosed
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Undiagnosed
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Undiagnosed
  • Hypertension -- Undiagnosed
  • Hemochromatosis -- Undiagnosed
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Misdiagnosis and Arrhythmias

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack, or from delaying too...read more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart...read more »

Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition...read more »

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are various less...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood...read more »

Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children. Some of the symptoms of...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Arrhythmias

Arrhythmias: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Cholesterol Specialists:
  • Clinical Lipidology (Cholesterol/Triglycerides)
  • Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism
• Cardiac (Heart) Specialists:
  • Cardiology (Heart specialists)
  • Pediatric Cardiology (Child Heart Specialists)
  • Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
  • Interventional Cardiology
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Hospitals & Clinics: Arrhythmias

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to Arrhythmias:

• Heart Health (Cardiac Care) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• more hospital ratings...»

Hospital & Clinic quality ratings » »

Choosing the Best Hospital: More general information, not necessarily in relation to Arrhythmias, on hospital performance and surgical care quality:

• 50 Best Hospitals Report
• Outstanding Patient Experinece Award Winning Hospitals
• Women's Health Best Hospitals
• Patient Safety
• Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study (2009)

Arrhythmias: Rare Types

Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:

• Chronic Major Diseases -- Rare Types:
  • High Cholesterol -- Rare Types
  • Heart Disease -- Rare Types
  • Cancer -- Rare Types
  • Depression -- Rare Types
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Hypertension -- Rare Types
  • Hemochromatosis -- Rare Types
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

Causes of Arrhythmias

• Heart disease
• Heart block
• Cardiomyopathy
• Stress
• Caffeine
• more causes...»

See full list of 338 causes of Arrhythmias

More information about causes of Arrhythmias:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Arrhythmias (68 listings)
• Drug interactions causing Arrhythmias (572 listings)
• Underlying causes of Arrhythmias
• Arrhythmias as a complication caused by other conditions
• Arrhythmias as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Arrhythmias

Treatments for Arrhythmias

• No treatment - certain arrhythmias may need no treatment.
• Antiarrhythmic drugs
• Cardioversion - electric shock to the chest wall.
• Automatic implantable defibrillators
• Artificial pacemaker
• more treatments...»

See full list of 6 treatments for Arrhythmias

Latest Treatments for Arrhythmias

• Pacemaker
• Atenolol
• Metoprolol
• Verapamil
• Atropine
• more treatments...»

Read more about the latest treatments for Arrhythmias

News Archives for Arrhythmias

Medical news articles related to Arrhythmias include:

• Study Offers Clues to Link Between Arrhythmia, Sudden Death
• Health Tip: About Heart Arrhythmia
• New Device Treats Common Heart Rhythm Disorder
• Birds Don't Miss a Beat
• CPAP Therapy Boosts Cardiac Surgery Outcomes
• more health news...»

Source: HealthDay News

Videos for Arrhythmias

Patient Surveys for Arrhythmias

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Arrhythmias
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Arrhythmias

Prognosis for Arrhythmias: Good. Rhythm disorders without underlying heart disease are common.

More about prognosis of Arrhythmias

Reseach about Arrhythmias

Visit our research pages for current research about Arrhythmias treatments.

Clinical Trials for Arrhythmias

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Arrhythmias include:

• Digitalis Investigation Group (DIG) - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - digitalis
• Cardiac Arrhythmia Pilot Study (CAPS) - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - encainide,moricizine,flecainide,imipramine
• Electrophysiologic Study Versus Electrocardiographic Monitoring (ESVEM) - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - imipramine,mexiletine,procainamide,quinidine,sotalol
• Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Patch Trial - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Genetic Determinants of Sudden Cardiac Death - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• more trials...»

See full list of 297 Clinical Trials for Arrhythmias

Statistics for Arrhythmias

• Medical statistics for Arrhythmias
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Arrhythmias
• Death and Mortality statistics for Arrhythmias
• Society statistics for Arrhythmias

Arrhythmias: Broader Related Topics

• Heart conditions
• more types...»

Types of Arrhythmias

Types of Arrhythmias

• Sinus node disease
• Bradycardia
• Tachycardia
• Atrial rhythm disorders
  • Atrial arrhythmia
• more types...»

See full list of 22 Types of Arrhythmias

Curable Types of Arrhythmias

Possibly curable types of Arrhythmias include:

• Wolff Parkinson White syndrome
• Supraventricular tachycardia
• Atrial flutter
• Atrial fibrillation
• Ventricular tachyarrhythmias
• more types...»

Rare Types of Arrhythmias:

Rare types of Arrhythmias include:

• Long QT syndrome
• Wolff Parkinson White syndrome
• Supraventricular tachycardia
• Atrial flutter
• Atrial fibrillation
• more types...»

Stories from Users Related to Arrhythmias

• And The Beat Goes On For Me!
• Heart beating really hard.
• Chantix-problems after several months (heart arrhythmia, weak, pain in joints )
• Rape and unexplainable irregular discharge
• racing heart beat - diagnosis please!!
• really strange heart beat
• Irregular Testicles
• Regular Irregular Heart rate
• My Heart Beats Like A Cannon Being Fired!
• a three stride heart beat and murmur
• irregular menstruation
• Racing heart beat
• endometriosis/pregancy/irregular menstruastion
• Heart beats weird after excercise??
• irregular menstruation
• heart beat in my back shoulder
• slow heart beat
• The Beat Goes On??
• Very strong heart beat/pulse, but normal rate
• fibrotic scarring of the cardiac apex

Related forums and medical stories:

• Heart Conditions (91)
  • Wolff-Parkinson-White
  • heart skips
  • Wpw
  • calf aches
  • Endocarditis from Cellulitis
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Arrhythmias, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Arrhythmias

NHLBI, Arrhythmia: NHLBI (Excerpt)

An arrhythmia is a change in the regular beat of the heart. The heart may seem to skip a beat or beat irregularly or very fast or very slowly. (Source: excerpt from NHLBI, Arrhythmia: NHLBI)

HEART AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: NWHIC (Excerpt)

Most people have felt their heart beat very fast, felt a fluttering in their chest, or noticed that their heart skipped a beat. Almost everyone has also felt dizzy, faint, or out of breath or had chest pains at one time or another. While these experiences of heart arrhythmias (a change in the regular beat of the heart) can create anxiety, they are, for most people, harmless. As adults age, they are more likely to get arrhythmias. Only a very small number of people have arrhythmias that are dangerous. Don’t panic if you have a few flutters or your heart races once in a while. If you have questions about your heart rhythm or symptoms, talk with your health care provider. (Source: excerpt from HEART AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: NWHIC)

Definitions of Arrhythmias:

An abnormal rate of muscle contractions in the heart. - (Source - Diseases Database)