Arrhythmia Clinic

Overview Diagnosing Treating

What is arrhythmia?

Heart arrhythmia is an irregular beating of your heart, which can be too slow, too fast or erratic. Arrhythmia is caused by dysfunction of the electrical impulses that control your heartbeat.

Some people experience arrhythmias as a fluttering or racing heart, which can be harmless. However, serious forms of heart arrhythmias have aggravating signs and symptoms and can even be life-threatening.

There are three basic types of heart arrhythmia:

• Slow heartbeat (bradycardia) with a resting heart rate less than 60 beats a minute
• Fast heartbeat (tachycardia) with a resting heart rate greater than 100 beats a minute
• Premature heartbeat, which can feel like a skipped heartbeat but is actually an extra beat

Different types of arrhythmia involve different chambers of the heart. Your private specialist will work with you to accurately diagnose your exact type of arrhythmia and recommend the best treatment options.

Learn more about heart arrhythmia at MayoClinic.org

Diagnosing arrhythmia

Depending on your condition and needs, your arrhythmia expert may use a combination of tests to accurately diagnose the precise nature of your arrhythmia, including:

• A review of your symptoms and medical history along with conducting a physical examination
• Echocardiogram
• Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• Electrophysiological testing and mapping
• Event recorder
• Holter monitor
• Implantable loop recorder
• Stress test

Treating arrhythmia

Depending on your type of arrhythmia, you may or may not need treatment. Your Mayo Clinic Healthcare cardiologist will work with you and apply the most accurate testing methods available to determine your type of arrhythmia and recommend treatment options based on the results.

The type and severity of a person's arrhythmia will dictate the types of treatment recommended, such as:

• Vagal maneuvers involve holding your breath and straining, submerging your face in ice water, or coughing.
• Medications may control your heart rate or restore a normal heart rhythm.
• Cardioversion delivers a shock to your heart through paddles or patches on your chest to restore a normal rhythm.
• Catheter ablation damages a small spot of heart tissue and creates an electrical block along the pathway that's causing your arrhythmia.
• Pacemaker can help control abnormal heart rhythms.
• Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator detects an abnormal heart rhythm and resets it to a normal rhythm with an electrical shock.
• Maze procedure involves a series of surgical incisions in the heart to create a pattern of scar tissue, which doesn't conduct electricity and interrupts stray electrical impulses that cause some types of arrhythmia.
• Coronary bypass surgery is reserved for people with severe coronary artery disease in addition to arrhythmias.