Cardiac arrhythmia
A cardiac arrhythmia is a disturbance of the electrical rhythm of the heart.
The heart beat is normally initiated by an electrical discharge from the sinoatrial node. The atria and ventricles then depolarise sequentially as electrical depolarisation passes through specialised conducting tissues. The sinus node acts as a pacemaker and its intrinsic rate is regulated by the autonomic nervous system; vagal activity slows the heart rate, and sympathetic activity accelerates it via cardiac sympathetic nerves and circulating catecholamines .
Symptoms are more likely to occur if the arrhythmia is associated with extremes of heart rate. Arrhythmias can cause palpitation, dizziness, syncope, chest discomfort or breathlessness, and can trigger heart failure or even sudden death.
Cardiology research Journals like Clinical Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine (CCCM) provides a global open access platform to put forth the ongoing research, reviews articles related to cardiac arrhythmia.
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