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Structure & Function of the Heart: Risk factors for Coronary Artery disease: Coronary Artery Disease:
Emergency Complications of Heart Attack:
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG):
Rheumatic Fever and Heart Valve Diseases:
Heart Transplantation and Assisted devices
Important Heart Questions and Answers Common Drugs Used For Treatment of Heart Diseases Have your Child been diagnosed with a Congenital Heart Disease??
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Palpitations A palpitation occurs when you can actually feel your heart beating. It may be just one heartbeat that seems stronger than the others or a series of heartbeats and it can be uncomfortable. Palpitations are sometimes felt when your heart switches into a different rhythm, beats extra beats, or misses beats. Sometimes palpitations are more noticeable at night when you’re lying still in bed. They can be felt in your chest, up in your neck, or even in your ear. You may even be able to hear your heart pulsating. Palpitations can be purely normal, but not always. An abnormal palpitation occurs when you can feel your heart beating very rapidly or skipping beats or there seem to be extra heartbeats. This problem should be brought to your doctor’s attention. Medically palpitations are known as arrythmias. Arrhythmia can range from a mild "skipped beat" to a life threatening failure to pump. The latter is called ventricular fibrillation and is usually associated with heart disease or occurs soon after a heart attack. The phenomenon of cardiac arrest (sudden death) is most often caused by ventricular fibrillation and is the leading cause of death in young and middle-aged men. In ventricular fibrillation, the lower chambers of the heart contract in an uncoordinated and inefficient manner, causing blood-pumping to cease completely. The patient may experience palpitations, lightheadedness, chest discomfort, shortness of breath, or loss of consciousness. Treated within one minute, the patient has a 90 percent or better chance of surviving. A delay of three minutes means a survival rate of less than 10 percent because of extensive and irreversible brain and heart damage. Treatment involves the use of an instrument called a defibrillator. Through plates applied to the chest, the device sends a massive volt of electricity into the heart muscle. Less serious arrhythmias than ventricular fibrillation include atrial flutter (where the atria contract too often), atrial fibrillation (where they contract in an ineffective and uncoordinated manner), and paroxysrnal atrial tachycardia (where the heart rate may race at between 140 and 240 beats per minute for minutes or even days). Most all conditions of arrhythmia are associated with heart disease or heart attacks and can be controlled with lifestyle changes and medications designed to pace the heart. Others are caused by a malfunctioning mitral valve of the heart or the sinus node (the area of the heart that sends electrical signals to the chambers, controlling the beat; i.e., the heart’s pacemaker).
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Symptoms and signs of heart disease:
NonInvasive diagnostic tests For heart disease:
Invasive Diagnostic Tests for heart disease: Cardiac Arrythmias and Pacemakers:
Aortic Aneurysms
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