Patients with arrhythmias tolerate physical exercise worse, and present a higher risk of stroke.
Arrhythmia, consequences
The presence of atrial fibrillation reduces the patient’s quality of life, presents less tolerance to exercise/physical exertion, and mainly in patients with risk factors, increases the risk of suffering a cerebral stroke, and therefore requires anticoagulation to avoid this complication.
Types of arrhythmia
There are multiple types of arrhythmias. The causes of these are very varied. They are usually classified by anatomical location:
- Supraventricular arrhythmias. For example, one of the most frequent is atrial fibrillation (AF). It is associated with age, hypertension and in young individuals with intense physical exercise and alcohol consumption.
- Ventricular arrhythmias. They are usually associated with the presence of structural heart disease, in patients who have suffered a heart attack or who have a large and dilated heart.
In the case of ventricular arrhythmias, the consequences are closely related to the underlying cardiac pathology, but they are usually associated with patients who require multiple medical treatments and, on many occasions, the implantation of an automatic defibrillator is necessary.
Ventricular arrhythmias, both tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, are usually associated with severe underlying heart disease, and are often poorly tolerated by the patient, or even trigger sudden death.
Arrhythmia treatment
The treatment of arrhythmias depends greatly on the type of arrhythmia being treated. For example, in atrial fibrillation or flutter, antiarrhythmic drugs can be used for rate control, electrical cardioversion, or pulmonary vein ablation.
In the case of reentrant tachycardia, electrophysiological study and ablation are usually the first option. In the case of ventricular arrhythmias, it is important to treat the triggering cause by using antiarrhythmic drugs, or even implanting a defibrillator to prevent the risk of sudden death.
In addition, in the case of flutter and atrial fibrillation, the cardiologist must assess the risk of embolism and decide the need to anticoagulate the patient, or simply antiplatelet therapy.