Heart Rhythm

Hearts should have normal rhythm to their beats, but when these beats are out of synch, it causes inefficient pumping of blood. Irregular heart arrhythmias occur when the electrical signals that coordinate the heart's beats do not work properly. This can cause beats that are too fast (tachycardia), or too slow (bradycardia). Tachycardias include atrial fibrillation (AFib), supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia (VT). Bradycardias include sick sinus syndrome and conduction block. Electrophysiology arrhythmia treatments include medications, life style changes, and the EP lab interventions of catheter ablation, and implantable pacemakers or defibrillators.

Edoxaban tops warfarin in study of Asian patients with AFib

The factor Xa inhibitor edoxaban might reduce the risk of several adverse events—including stroke, major bleeding and all-cause death—when compared to warfarin, according to a real-world study of Korean patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib).

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Researchers ID potential genetic marker for tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy

Japanese researchers believe they’ve identified a genetic risk marker that could pinpoint which people with atrial fibrillation (AFib) are at risk of developing tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy.

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Cardiac screening in young athletes yields mixed results

A screening program for top teen soccer players in England identified heart disorders associated with sudden cardiac death in one out of every 266 individuals. But among the eight athletes who eventually died of sudden cardiac arrest, six of them had normal electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings.

Medtronic’s extravascular ICD implanted in 1st patient

Medtronic has launched the pilot study of its extravascular implantable cardioverter defibrillator (EV ICD), which is designed to deliver defibrillation and antitachycardia pacing without transvenous leads.

Atrial flutter doesn’t equal AFib in stroke risk scoring

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) and atrial flutter (AFL) are often regarded as interchangeable when informing the management of stroke risk. However, a new study in JAMA Network Open suggests clinical outcomes are worse for patients with AFib, even if they have the same values on the standard CHA2DS2-VASc scoring system.

Cardiologist gets prison time for swindling $238K from VA

A New Jersey cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology was sentenced July 31 to 20 months in prison for billing the Veterans Affairs (VA) program hundreds of thousands of dollars for services he never performed.

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Nasal spray shows potential for quickly treating arrhythmia

A calcium-channel blocker delivered as a nasal spray rapidly restored individuals with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) to normal sinus rhythm in a phase 2 study, raising the possibility that the drug could be self-administered in a real-world setting and prevent trips to the emergency department.

Epinephrine after OHCA: Is the survival benefit worth the neurological risk?

Epinephrine doses administered by paramedics significantly improved the odds of 30-day survival for patients following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), according to a randomized, placebo-controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The survivors who received epinephrine, however, had worse neurological outcomes.