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Heart beating off Electro shocks can save lives in arrhythmia
If the heart is out of rhythm, sufferers feel it, among other things, dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heart beat and pressure on the chest. But some do not notice it until they suddenly faint. In some cases, only electric shock can restore the normal heartbeat and save lives.
Some do not notice their cardiac arrhythmias
The heart truly performs extreme benefits. Day after day, the fist-sized muscle pumps around 7,000 liters of blood through our bodies. At rest, the normal heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute If there are deviations, it is called cardiac arrhythmia. The result may be dizziness, shortness of breath and pressure in the chest or sudden fainting. However, some sufferers do not feel the changes in their pulse at all. Although cardiac arrhythmias can sometimes be life-threatening, by no means all are dangerous.
Short electric shocks can stabilize the heart rhythm again. (Image: fotoliaxrender / fotolia.com) What brings the heart out of rhythm
An abrupt change of the pulse to a very high or very low heart rate is typical for morbid cardiac arrhythmias. There are a few things that make your heart run slow: Most of the disorders are the result of heart disease such as heart muscle inflammation or constriction of the coronary arteries. As Prof. Thomas Meinertz, chairman of the German Heart Foundation in Frankfurt am Main explained in a message from the news agency dpa, include special mental and physical stress, obesity, magnesium deficiency and potassium deficiency, too little sleep and too much coffee, alcohol and nicotine consumption other risk factors.
Atrial fibrillation increases stroke risk
The most common cardiac arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation, which, according to new scientific studies, is especially dangerous for women. This leads to uncoordinated excitation of the atrial musculature, so that the atria no longer actively transport the blood into the ventricles, explained Felix Gramley from the Heidelberg private clinic for cardiology in the dpa report. Then the blood in some niches of the forecourt threatens to stagnate and form clots. This results in an increased risk of stroke. Patients are therefore usually given blood-thinning medications and so-called antiarrhythmics such as beta-blockers.
Retrieve heart by electricity to the beat
If the symptoms are more pronounced, in addition often the so-called electric cardioversion is used to bring the heart back to the beat. "Two electrodes placed on the chest under short anesthesia deliver a targeted electric shock towards the heart, which resets atrial fibrillation and resumes normal heart rhythm," explained Gramley. If this treatment proves unsuccessful in the long run, catheter ablation can help, according to the agency message. "Thin probes are pushed all the way down the groin to the heart, and through radiofrequency or cold, they pass away certain areas of the heart tissue that are responsible for atrial fibrillation," Gramley said.
Cardiac massage can save lives
VF is another dangerous cardiac arrhythmia. "With over 300 beats per minute, the heart muscle throbles so fast that it can hardly pump blood and oxygen through the body," explained Philipp Sommer of the Heart Center Leipzig. "Heart and circulation are virtually silent at the moment." Affected suddenly faint and have no more heart rate. Passers-by must therefore respond immediately by checking their breathing and starting a chest compressions massage. So there is a chance to maintain blood flow until emergency services have arrived. Ultimately, ventricular fibrillation can only be interrupted by a defibrillator. "This brings the heart to a short stoppage by a surge, so it then returns to its normal rhythm," said Sommer.
Defibrillators found in different places
Defibrillators are also easy to use for first responders. They can be found at railway stations, airports, in banks, hotels, doctors' offices or sports facilities. In order to find publicly available devices, apps like "Defi Now!" Are suitable for the whole of Germany or "Hamburg shocks", "Frankfurt shocks" or "Defikoeln" for the respective cities. If survivors survive the sudden ventricular fibrillation, they are usually implanted with a small defibrillator. According to dpa, this gives electric shocks within a few seconds with renewed ventricular fibrillation. "When the patents are awake, they find that painful, but it saves their lives," says Sommer. (Ad)