If your heart is in fibrillation, it can take a big electrical current to shock the heart back to a regular rhythm (the paddles you see on TV shows provide the shock).
The miracle of today's medicine is that someone who is prone to rhythm problems can get an implant called an automatic internal cardiac defibrillator (AICD) put right into his or her chest. The AICD, which former Vice President Cheney now has, can sense irregular rhythms and automatically shock the heart back to regularity-without ever missing more than a beat or two or three.
Your heart also has an atrium, which holds the blood coming into the heart. When fibrillation happens in the atrium, folks feel palpitations. Instead of an AICD, these people sometimes need pacemakers or a blood thinner to prevent blood clots that accumulate on the quivering atrial walls and can cause strokes.
If your heart is in fibrillation, it can take a big electrical
current to shock the heart back to a regular rhythm (the paddles
you see on TV shows provide the shock). The miracle of today's
medicine is that someone who is prone to rhythm problems...
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Dr. Mehmet Oz answered:If your heart is in fibrillation, it can take a big electrical current to shock the heart back to a regular rhythm (the paddles you see on TV shows provide the shock).
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