Atrial fibrillation

One of the most common arrhythmias in humans is atrial fibrillation. Its prevalence is 0.5% of the total population. The prognostic value of this disease is also great. The presence of atrial fibrillation increases the mortality of patients in half, compared to people who do not have conduction disorders. The predominant age of people who suffer from a constant form of this disease is the elderly. Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is more common in young adults.

Distinguish two forms of the disease: paroxysmal (paroxysmal) and persistent. At the first kind of illness attacks of an arrhythmia are stopped independently or by means of medicamental therapy. The treatment of this form of the disease is aimed at achieving and subsequent maintenance of the normal heart rate. Persistent atrial fibrillation can be a recurrence of an already existing pathology or a first-fixed arrhythmia. It lasts seven days, and is stopped by medications.

Causes

Atrial fibrillation occurs against the background of diseases of the cardiovascular system. The most frequent diseases leading to the development of this arrhythmia include ischemic heart disease (50-60% of patients), arterial hypertension (40-50%), coronary artery bypass graft (5%), acute myocardial infarction. Often, fibrillation occurs in people who abuse alcohol. In this case, alcoholic cardiomyopathy develops , which causes the occurrence of arrhythmia. Infectious diseases and disturbances of water-electrolyte metabolism also contribute to the onset of the disease.

The mechanism of development

Atrial fibrillation occurs with a violation of the left atrium of the heart. In certain parts of the myocardium, specific changes occur in the electrical impulses that trigger this type of arrhythmia. During an attack of fibrillation, disorganization of all electrical processes (asynchronous, chaotic, inferior excitation of cardiac muscle fibers) is observed. In a minute, up to 700 pulses are formed, which cover small groups of fibers, which prevents normal systolic contraction. Only a part of the impulses are carried on the myocardium. However, tachycardia develops, which is combined with arrhythmia.

Symptoms

Atrial fibrillation is characterized by the following symptoms: a feeling of irregularities and palpitations, discomfort or pain in the heart, weakness, dizziness, heaviness in the chest, dyspnea, which occurs even in rest, fatigue, which passes for a long time.

In some cases, the disease is characterized by a stark clinical picture. In this case, patients do not experience characteristic interruptions in cardiac activity, with a low incidence of heart contractions, the general well-being may not be disturbed. However, without appropriate treatment, this kind of arrhythmia can be accompanied by the development of complications. These include: heart failure, impaired cerebral circulation, which leads to stroke, intestinal infarction. It is proved that the preservation of fibrillation for many years leads to a decrease in intellectual activity. Therefore, diagnostic methods become important, the most important of which is the electrocardiogram. At this arrhythmia, there are characteristic changes: the absence of the P wave in front of the QRS complex, instead of them, pathological waves f that have a different size, shape are detected. Their duration reaches 700 per minute. The cardiologist, with the detection of such changes, can confidently put this diagnosis.