Atrial Fibrillation - All You Need To Know

What is Atrial Fibrillation?

Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib) is quite common in the community as it affects 5% of those aged 75 or more. In a simple term A-Fib is a heart function disorder where the heart is quivering instead of pumping the bloods because the muscles, the heart tubes exactly, are not functioning properly whether it is pumping too slow or too fast.

This could be very dangerous. In serious cases it can cause heart failure where the heart muscles are not working. In less severe cases where the heart quivers ,the bloods that are not pumped can gather and clot. If these blood clots attached to the artery system it can cause a more dramatic effect. An attached blood clot at the brain artery, for example, could cause a stroke. Some medical reports said that Atrial Fibrillation is the main cause of a stroke because of the blood clots at the brain artery.

Symptoms of Atrial Fibrillation?

Since A-Fib is related to blood and heart function disorder, the symptoms might be quite predictable for some people. Rapid heartbeat or irregular heartbeat, weakness, fatigue, and out of breath are some of Atrial Fibrillation symptoms. For some people no symptoms are manifested. For some others symptoms manifest increasingly over the year.

What is the cause of Atrial Fibrillation?

The heart muscles disorder function are caused by numerous electrical charges in atrial which in turn causes mechanical muscles disarray. Up till this writing time, the real cause of the disorder electrical firing in Atrial Fibrillation is still unknown.

However, again, as it is related to heart function disorder, some risk factors could be determined. Several risk factors are alcoholism, high blood pressure, acute infection, recent heart surgery, and congenital or hereditary heart diseases. Increased age could also be a factor as heart muscles could go weaker along with the increased age.

How to cure Atrial Fibrillation?

Basically the method to cure Atrial Fibrillation is to regain the normal heart rate and normal heart control. This could be in form of medication, therapy, electric shock, surgery, and pacemakers that can be implanted under the skin.

Lately Francis E. Marchlinski, MD, director of Cardiac Electrophysiology for the University of Pennsylvania Health System claims that a procedure to cure Atrial Fibrillation has been found after working on it for five years. It can cure A-Fib completely and patients can resume their lives without relying on mechanical devices or any form of medication.

Using the procedure, the abnormal muscle fibers could be isolated rapidly and effectively. Thus, correct treatment could be taken as soon as possible.

Conclusion on Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial Fibrillation is a common disease among us, especially for those above 75 years old. This heart disorder problem should not be taken lightly because it can cause a heart failure or stroke. Because the heart muscles are not pumping bloods correctly, irregular heart beat or fatigue could occur. Fortunately, a method has been found lately to isolate the abnormal muscle fibers. Thus the correct treatment can easier be done.