Cardiac arrhythmias-an overview

A cardiac arrhythmia simply defined is a variation from the normal heart rate and or rhythm that is not physiologically justified ( Antzelevitch et al Overview of Basic Mechanism of Cardia Arrhythmia 2011 )

only normal rhythm of the heart is the sinus rhythm ( SR ) SA node is a cluster of cells at the junction of superior vena cava and high right lateral atrium impulse generated from the Sinus node ( SA ) is conducted through and slowed down while passing through the atrioventricular node( AV ) -its conducted through bundle of His , to the left and right branches and eventually into the Purkinje fibers AV node is located on the right side of the interatrial septum atrial contraction is always followed by ventricular contraction term dysrhythmia is also used to describe arrhythmia & has similar meaning.

prevalence of arrhythmias is expected to be 1.5 % to 5 % in the general population atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia globally about 90,000 cases of supraventricular tachycardia are detected annually in the US

arrhythmias happen due to alterations of impulse formation or alterations of impulse conduction once arrhythmias are initiated they can be maintained by...