What causes atrial tachycardia?

Are you feeling palpitations in your chest? Don’t panic! It’s not a love problem or a spooky ghostly encounter. It could just be that you’re suffering from atrial tachycardia, and trust us – it has nothing to do with too much chocolate.

So what is atrial tachycardia exactly? In simple terms, it’s an abnormal heart rhythm caused by electrical signals coming from the upper chambers of the heart, known as the right and left atria.

Now let’s dive into more depth on this topic…

The Anatomy of Your Heart

We know what you’re thinking: why anatomy? But before we jump into any conclusions, it’s best to start with understanding how these parts function. Remember how your kid-self used to marvel at a frog or heart graffiti etched on walls in school premises?

Well…..we’re doing something like that!

Your hearts are muscle-bound organs responsible for circulating blood throughout your body. Blood carries oxygen which provides energy and vitamins required for proper functioning of organs.

The human heart consists of four chambers – two small ones called atriums situated on top providing entry ports for incoming deoxygenated blood while larger lower chambers called ventricles pump out newly oxygenated blood using what is commonly referred to as “Lubb-Dup” Sounds (you’ll even find e-mojis for that).

Arteries carry fresh blood away from the heart; veins bring back dirty dark coloured used up stuff which needs purifying!

These sounds like basic concepts but they do contribute immensely when discussing complications such as atrial tachycardia.

So pardon me if I rant about our anatomy classes because every single detail counts here!
 

How Does A Normal Heart Beat Work?

To further appreciate ‘what makes our hearts tick’ ensures less confusion regarding arrhythmias such as atrial tachycardia.

Your heart beats because of an electrical impulse causing a biological reaction. This “action potential” moves from one cell to another to stimulate the mechanical contraction needed for blood circulation.

The normal pacemaker of our heart is located in the right atrium, referred as ‘Sinoatrial’ Node or simply abbreviated as SA node (Remember the abbreviation folks!). The signal generated by this structure initiates a wave-like movement that stimulates muscle cells surrounding it thereby allowing electrical impulses travel faster and further down your hearts conduction systems leading ultimately to ventricular contraction which then pumps out oxygenated blood via arteries.
 
Don’t feel overwhelmed yet: These intricate processes are taking place automatically without us even realizing it!

What Causes Atrial Tachycardia?

Now that we’ve covered basic structures involved in cardiac activity, let’s focus on what causes atrial tachycardia. In short, persistent rapid contractions arise from non-SA node sources within you’re left/right Atria.

Put succinctly – To have an arrhythmic heartbeat often means having faulty electricity whereby abnormal tubes (I mean’ pathways’) conduct unwanted signals within these upper chambers either due to extra triggers outside cardiac system or structural disorders resulting damage.

Need more details? Well, let’s take a deeper dive into some important factors…

Electrical Disruption:

A number of things can cause abnormal electric activity that leads to increased incidence rate of spontaneous depolarization occurring at multiple locations when compared with regualr condition. Some of them include:

  1. Abnormal automaticity -Increased automatic rhythm produced secondary through renegade circuitry .Some specific genes encoding ion channels may indeed result in increase in rhythmic action but not all individuals carrying these mutations actually encounter symptoms routinely.

  2. Reentry circuitsfrequently encountered with focal fibrosis related lesionsoften seen due inflammation reactions following heart surgeries causing reaction after sometime.

  3. Enhanced Triggered activity results from reactivation of cardiac cells that typically have minimal effects in ventricular cells but suddenly become more active due to some other complex physiological upheaval,typically seen with patients suffering physical/mental stress repeatedly.

Structural Disorders:

Some of the structural disorders can lead to atrial tachycardia include:

  1. Coronary Artery disease- a condition where narrowing or complete blockage is present within tubes carrying oxygenated blood to heart. This reduces the supply leading ultimately towards dysfunction on account of weakened muscle tissues (tends leads onto arrhythmias)

  2. Hypertension-a commonly known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and increases workload upon the heart tissues, subsequently resulting in hypertrophy often encountered among elderly population.

3.Mitral Valve prolapse – this degenerative disorder involves abnormal positioning changing positioning/trapping wires permitting extra beats – as easy as playing “string” instrument.

How Do You Know if You Have Atrial Tachycardia?

A couple symptoms are always there when it comes to an arrhythmic conditions like atrial tachycardia :

1.Variations Between normal/Sudden augmented pulse rate(Skip them Sitcoms!)

2.Palpitations meaning awareness towards rhythm alterations

3.Shortness of breath which may escalate gradually over time especially upon exertion – often explains why old-goldies cannot trot!

4.Fatigue & lightheadedness-kindly use these terms if your boss asks you for public speaking!

More severe cases will experience unique symptoms such dizziness which could sometimes put day-to-day activities at stake So take proper action,it pays off !

So now, we’ve understood related pathologically disrupted functionalities along with its possible causes,symptoms,but how about treatment schedules ?

Nowadays advancements within medical healthcare sector have really put us at an advantage when it comes to treating abnormal arrhythmic conditions like atrial tachycardia!

1.Medications: First of all, there are different medications that can significantly reduce incidence rate and burden of these types of rhythm disorder – The medication carries out its function via slowing down your neurons increasing threshold value thereby leading to less activation along nerve pathways.

  1. Ablation therapy – This newer highly promising treatment is a constant topic discussed across labs .Concentrated electrical energy beams known commonly as radiofrequency ablation or Cryoablation upon cardiac tissue often around trigger sites causing denaturation techniques so that further action potential conduction becomes impossible-Imagine this explained during Star Trekkie S1-Episode 3!Hmm the possibilities.

3.Pacemaker Implantation : Another way to treat fast heartbeats includes implanting devices referred as pacemakers constantly monitoring ECG signals signaling need for stimulation prior towards actual ventricular contraction (Lower pacing chambers) ultimately reducing chance development fatal arrhythmias

4.Cardioversion Therapy-In this relatively uncommon technique irregularities returned through specific externally generated pulse sequence with precisely controlled electricity pulses , sometimes combined alongside anti-arrhythmic agents in order go obtain more favorable results consistently shown .

5.Catheterization-The final type procedure involves puncturing femoral artery/vein passing catheter up into cardiologist is able drug accordingly monitor meter measurements ensuring improve/decrease within certain time frames

In conclusion, dealing with atrial tachycardia requires thorough analysis starting from basic understanding providing primary aid until more advanced treatments are implemented.. If someone you know possibly endures some unexplained symptoms previously mentioned above kindly accompany him/her towards nearest clinic instead prescribing medicines blindly based purely on Google search consultancy-you don’t want unwanted drama episodes!

Random Posts