An arrhythmia is any deviation from or disturbance of the normal heart rhythm. The basic rhythm of the heart is a tightly regulated phenomenon designed to insure maximal efficiency and optimal performance.

The heart’s normal or intrinsic pacemaker is called the sino-atrial node. It is located in the upper right chamber (right atrium). A signal or impulse is emitted to trigger the heart beat, and this impulse travels across the upper chambers of the heart. However, in order to trigger the pumping or lower chambers (the ventricles), the impulse must cross the specialized electrical (conduction) system. Here a series of specialized tissues take the impulse from the top chamber, slow its progression down a bit, and then pass it on to specialized fibers. The fibers transmit the impulse across the pumping chambers to signal the muscles within these chambers to contract and pump. With the next heart beat, the process starts again.

An arrhythmia may occur when any portion of this sequence is interrupted or disturbed. Arrhythmias may be benign, symptomatic, life threatening or even fatal. Their consequences depend not only on their manifestation but on the presence of important abnormal structural conditions of the heart.

Our Arrhythmia Services perform a variety of invasive and noninvasive techniques to understand and treat abnormal heart rhythms. Diagnostic tests such as 24-hour ECG , monitoring, signal averaged ECG‘s and event recorders noninvasively obtain data about the heartbeat. When necessary, electrophysiology studies (EPS) to assess the heart‘s electrical activation sequence are performed to determine the presence of rhythm disturbances. Results provide important information about the arrhythmia, the patient‘s risk of serious disease and response to treatment. In addition to diagnostic EPS, we offer cardiac ablation to locate the precise source of an arrhythmia, and then, through the use of high-frequency energy, eradicate the small amount of abnormal heart tissue responsible for the problem.

Other procedures and services provided by cardiologists in our arrhythmia service include tilt table studies, implantable cardiovascular defibrillators, pacemaker insertions and pacemaker and cardiac defibrillator follow-up evaluations.