| THE HEART - Ventricular fibrillation & ventricular tachycardia |
| What is ventricular fibrillation? |
|
Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a condition in which the
heart's electrical activity becomes disordered. When this happens, the
heart's lower (pumping) chambers - the ventricles - contract in a rapid,
unsynchronized way. (They "flutter" rather than beat.) The heart pumps little or no
blood. VF is very serious. Collapse and sudden cardiac death will follow in minutes unless medical help is provided immediately. If treated in time, VF and ventricular tachycardia (extremely rapid heartbeat), see below, can be converted into normal rhythm. This requires shocking the heart with the AED (automatic external defibrillator). |
| What is ventricular tachycardia? |
|
Ventricular tachycardia is a
potentially lethal disruption of normal heartbeat
that may cause the heart to become unable to pump adequate blood through the
body. The heart rate may be 160 to 240 (normal is 60 to 100 beats per
minute). Ventricular tachycardia can occur in the absence of apparent heart disease. It can also develop as an early or a late complication of a heart attack, or following heart surgery. Healed heart attacks form scar tissue which can lead to ventricular tachycardia. This can occur days, months, or years after the heart attack. |
| Take a look at this web page. It brilliantly illustrates the normal sinus rhythm of the heart, i.e. how the electrical impulses in the heart make it beat regularly, and what happens during ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia and other dysrhythmias. The page will take approximately 35-40 seconds to download via a dial-up connection. |
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