How are cardiac arrhythmias treated?

Arrhythmia means an irregularity of the heartbeat. There are many different kinds with the severity ranging from nothing to worry about to potentially fatal. The treatment depends on how bad the arrhythmia is and what the risk is to your health. Normal hearts always have some degree of arrhythmia. After seeing the doctor and having very simple testing done, this may be the ultimate diagnosis. In this case, the best treatment is "do nothing."  Most of the time, the medications that would be used will have side effects that are worse that your problem. Some arrhythmias are very bothersome but not dangerous. Mostly, these are treated with simple medications. It is always important to have the side effects be less than the problem itself!  Some arrhythmias are treated with more complex medications and these usually require a cardiac electrophysiologist to make the right decision and to monitor the medications carefully. There are types of arrhythmias that can be cured through an invasive cardiac procedure called an electrophysiology study (EPS). This sounds scary, but it really isn't. It is done by inserting skinny little wires through big main blood vessels (usually in your groin) and then finding the spots in the heart that are causing the problem and putting little tiny burns to destroy these spots. This doesn't hurt and, depending on the arrhythmia, can be very, very effective. Finally, there is a group of arrhythmias that require implantation of either a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator. This is always done with a cardiac electrophysiologist and is a decision that is made very thoughtfully. If your arrhythmia requires this treatment, it is the right thing to do and is usually quite effective.

Cardiac arrhythmias can be treated in a variety of ways, depending on three factors - how they make you feel, how serious they are, and the risk related to the treatment. There are many arrhythmias and each has a variety of treatment options that considers the three factors listed above.

In general, options include medicines, implantable devices like pacemakers and defibrillators, and catheter-based heart procedures (called electrophysiology studies) that can be used to diagnose and identify the location in the heart from where the arrhythmia arises - heat can be delivered to the specific location(s) through one of our catheters until the target sites no longer function, suppressing or curing the arrhythmia. This does not injure the heart or impair its overall function at all.

Each specific treatment option has its own risk and benefits and should be discussed with a heart doctor. Cardiac electrophysiologists are heart doctors that specialize in the treatment of arrhythmias.