Arrhythmias

See all Pictures & Images

Arrhythmias Treatment

When an arrhythmia is serious and not well-tolerated, there may not be enough blood flow from the heart to vital organs, such as the brain or kidneys or to the heart itself.

In such cases, treatment is urgent and may include electrical "shock" (defibrillation or cardioversion), the implantation of a temporary pacemaker to interrupt the arrhythmia by fast pacing (overdrive supression), or the administration of intravenous medications.

For long-term treatment of arrhythmias, daily medications may be necessary. These include antiarrhythmic medications, medications to speed up or slow down the heart rate, and others.

Over the past decade, life-threatening arrhythmias have been increasingly treated with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). As soon as an arrhythmia begins, the ICD can detect it and send an automatic electrical shock to terminate it, or it can activate a pacemaker function to overdrive the arrhythmia.

Some patients may be better candidates to have a procedure called radiofrequency catheter ablation. Radiofrequency catheter ablation can cure many paroxysmal supraventricular arrhythmias as well as some ventricular arrhythmias. This is performed at the time of EPS.