What is Ventricular Fibrillation?

What is Ventricular Fibrillation? Related Information:

Ventricular fibrillation is a serious condition in which the normal electrical activity of the heart gets out of order. The lower chambers of the heart contract rapidly and in an irregular fashion. As a result the ventricles do not beat. Instead they flutter and the heart pumps very little blood, if any at all. When this happens to a person, he/she needs medical help immediately. If not collapse or sudden death could occur within minutes. A defibrillator has to be used to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm.

When the normal beating pattern of the lower chambers of the heart go out of rhythm, the various areas of the heart start beating faster to try to correct the problem. This condition, ventricular fibrillation, can occur spontaneously or after years of ventricular tachycardia. During fibrillation, the ventricles of the heart do not contract properly and therefore they do not pump the blood necessary for the normal functioning of the heart. The first and only symptom associated with this condition is the sudden loss of blood to the brain.

Even though it is possible for this condition to occur without any risk factors, there are factors that can bring it on. One of these is a history of heart attacks, with each successive heart attack damaging the heart. It often occurs following a heart attack when the levels of potassium in the blood are extremely low. It can also develop when a person has Wolff-Parkinson Syndrome.

A risk factor is anything that could potentially cause ventricular fibrillation. Some of these risk factors can be controlled, while others are the result of heredity. The factors that are considered to be controllable are:

High blood pressure
High levels of cholesterol
Smoking
Excess weight
Diabetes
Drug or alcohol abuse
Too much fat in the diet
Stress
Lack of exercise

The factors that you cannot control include:

Age
Family history of heart disease
Congenital heart disorders

Even though you cannot do anything about the non-controllable factors, just the fact that they are present can help you be more careful about your lifestyle and prevent the onset of this condition.

Patients who survive ventricular fibrillation are brought to the hospital for tests and examinations to determine the cause of the heart going out of rhythm. Many of these patients are advised by their doctors to make a drastic change in their lifestyle, such as walking or exercising on a regular basis, changing the diet to include less fat, stopping the smoking habit or taking medications to control high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Many people do not even realize that they have a problem with their blood pressure or cholesterol until a problem develops with their heart. While many do not experience any more problems, they still have to be closely monitored by their doctor.

Patients who experience several attacks of ventricular fibrillation may have to have a defibrillator surgically implanted in their chest. This device monitors the pattern of the heart and when irregularities occur, the device takes the necessary measures to put the heart back of it proper rhythm. A third section of this device remains in the hospital where it is also monitored and the information about the functioning of the heart is stored. The doctor can extract the information from the device to see where and when problems have occurred. This procedure is extremely helpful in determining if there are any specific events that cause a patient’s heart to go out of its normal synchronized pattern.