Rapid atrial pacing at times 2 and times 4 of the basic rate up to 720 ppm…
Freedman et al. (2016) discussed that from a meta-analysis of five studies, the researcher concluded that a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin can reduce stroke by up to 64% and mortality by 26% when compared with a placebo. To be able to prevent stroke related to a-fib the first step is to complete a stroke risk stratification using assessment tool such as the CHA2DS2-VASc. The chad score can help determine if anticoagulation therapy is recommended base of risk factors such has any congestive heart failure, hypertension, patient age, diabetes, prior stroke, vascular disease, and the sex of the patient. If patients are on an OAC, provider need to monitor closely the international normalized ratio.…
When a doctor is examining a patient with a stethoscope, a clicking sound is heard soon after the ventricle begins to contract. This clicking is felt to reflect tightening of the abnormal valve leaflets against the pressure load of the left ventricle. If there is associated leakage of blood through the abnormal valve opening a "whooshing" sound can be heard immediately following the clicking sound. This is a heart murmur. After a doctor believes to have detected mitral valve prolapse the patient is sent for an echocardiograph. An echocardiograph is the most useful test for mitral valve prolapse. Echocardiography can measure the severity of prolapse and the degree of mitral regurgitation. It can also detect areas of infection on the abnormal valves. Valve infection is called endocarditis and is a very rare, but potentially serious complication of mitral valve prolapse. Echocardiography can also evaluate the effect of prolapse and regurgitation on the functioning of the muscles of the ventricles. When a patient is suffering from abnormally rapid or irregular heartbeats they are usually given a 24-hour Holter monitor. This is a device that takes a continuous recording of the patient 's heart rhythm as the patient carries on daily activities. When abnormal rhythms occur during the test period they are captured and analyzed at a later date. If abnormal rhythms do not occur every day, the Holter recording may fail to capture the abnormal rhythms. These patients then can be fitted with a small event recorder to be worn for up to several weeks. When the patient senses a palpitation, an event button can be pressed to record the heart rhythm prior to, during, and after the palpitations. These machines help the doctors to diagnosis the severity of the patient’s heart…
Aging heart, is characterized by myocardial fibrosis and atrial dilation, which is a proper soil for AF to flourish. Atrial Fibrillation creates electrical and structural remodeling in the atria by shortening, mismatching, and lengthening the effective refractory period (increase of dispersion), depressing the intra-atrial conduction, and depriving its contractile function (Karamichalakis,& Letsas). Because A-Fib cases increase with age and women generally live longer than men, more women than men experience AFib as Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows in her Fact sheet.…
This condition is diagnosed based on the description of your symptom. Your health care provider may performa a physical exam to listen to your heart. Your health care provider may also perform tests to rule out other conditions. These tests may include an electrical tracing of your heart called electrocardiogram (ECG). If you have this test, you may need to wear a portable ECG machine (Holter monitor) that records your heart beats for 24 hours or more.…
2.3.e. What is an EKG? 2.3.f. How can an EKG be used in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease? EKGs, or electrocardiographs (“electricity heart pictures”) measure the heart’s electrical activity and display it in the form of a picture: P wavesignal passes from SA node (sinoatrial node) to AV node (atrioventricular node), moving across atria QRS intervalsignal passes from AV node through Purkinje fibers & the ventricles contract T wavethe ventricles repolarize & the heart is relaxed…
As of 2011, there were 3 million people affected by atrial fibrillation with that number expected to increase by 2.5 fold by 2050. The cost of atrial fibrillation is more than $6 billion per year. With numbers like these, it is surprising that there is not a greater amount of research concerning this topic. The study addresses the problem of limited information concerning first-hand information from patients living with atrial fibrillation as demonstrated in the review of literature within the article. The point is made that though conditions such as myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, and heart failure fall within the same rhelm as atrial fibrillation, this problem is unique to those living with it and deserves to be studied further (McCabe, Schumacher, & Barnason,…
The goal of many health care system, in this day and age, is to improve quality care and reduce morbidity and mortality rate. To accomplish this, health organizations will need to revise their own guidelines and processes and even modernize old protocols or initiate new ones. The initiation of the Amiodarone Protocol is one such process that will improve quality care and reduce morbidity and mortality rate by decreasing the rise of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) post coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). The purpose of this paper is to finalize and complete the various sections of the project charter and the scope statements.…
Antiarrhythmic drugs; these drugs control heart rate and include beta-blockers. Anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy; these drugs reduce the risk of blood clots and stroke, these include warfarin or aspirin. Another blood thinner called Pradaxa (dabigatran) was approved in 2010 to prevent stroke in people with atrial fibrillation. Because everyone is different, it may take trials of several medications and doses to find the one that works best for…
ECG is a powerful tool in the diagnosis of heart disease. It is exciting to unlock the codes…
Since 1932, cardiac arrhythmias have been treated by the use of pacemakers. According to the article, “The Evolution of Pacemakers”, “An artificial pacemaker is a device that delivers a controlled, rhythmic electric stimulus to the heart muscle in order to maintain an effective cardiac rhythm for long periods of time” (Sandro A.P. Haddad, 2006). In the earliest stages, pacemakers were quite primitive but evolved to become much more practical in size, weight and mobility.…
Viktor Č, Nardi S, Dinko M 2012 Triggering of supraventricular premature beats. The impact of acute and chronic risk factors International Journal of Cardiology, vol. 158, Issue 1, pp.112–117 (Sciverse/ScienceDirect)…
The tests could help patients with heart diseases and could detect a potential heart attack and prevent it from happening.…
My patient was a 70year old retired home help who presented with a history of fast heart beat (Fibrillation in her own words) of 15years. It is imperative to use open ended questions during such discussions in order to encourage patients to speak freely (Patton, 1987). At all times, verbal and non-verbal cues are vital when attending to patients; I listened carefully and maintained close eye contact with my patient. The key to effective information gathering is good listening skills (Duffy, 1999). She described the beat as fast, irregular, sudden in onset, paroxysmal and sometimes relieved by Sotalol tablet. Prompting patient to explain terms used to describe symptoms is known to be helpful (Crumbie, 2006).…
Diagnosing for arrhythmia, what happens to begin with, is the specialist's first take a gander at your history to check whether it could really be feasible for you to have this. They generally search for coronary illness, hypertension, ailment, and wellbeing issues. At that point in the wake of looking over your history they do a physical exam. Nothing excessively distinctive when they do a physical exam, specialist's simply listen to your heart beat and mood to hear if…