Atrial Fibrillation Flashcards
Describe the pattern of atrial firing rhythm in atrial fibrillation
Irregularly irregular
What is the most common cardiac arrhythmia?
Atrial fibrillation
Name some types of tachycardias
Atrial fibrillation
Atrial flutter
WPW
VFib
What are causes of atrial fibrillation?
Heart failure
hypertension
AF secondary to mitral stenosis
Sometimes idiopathic
What are some risk factors for atrial fibrillation?
60+ y/o
DMT2
Hypertension
Valve defects (mitral stenosis)
History of MI
In atrial fibrillation there are rapid re-entrant ectopic foci which cause a_____ s____
atrial spasm (not co-ordinating contraction like typical physiology pathway)
What is the firing rate of atrial fibrillation causing the atrial spasm?
300-600 bpm
The atrial spasm in AFib causes atrial blood to ____ instead of pump efficiently into ventricles
pool
In AFib, blood pooling causing decreased __ and increased risk of __________ events
CO
thrombo-embolic
What are symptoms of AFib?
Palpitations
Irregularly irregular pulse
Thrombo-emboli eg. ischaemic stroke
Chest pain
Syncope
Hypotension
What does paroxysmal mean?
Episodic
True or false: atrial fibrillation can be paroxysmal, p____ (lasting longer than 7 days) or p____ (sinus rhythm is un-restorable)
persistent
permanent
How is AFib diagnosed?
ECG:
Irregularly irregular pulse
Narrow QRS (under 120ms)
No P waves (instead see fibrillatory squiggles)
What is treatment for unstable atrial fibrillation with syncope/ shock/ chest pain / heart failure?
DC synchronised cardioversion
Delivery of a controlled electrical shock under anaesthesia to reset heart’s electrical activity and establish sinus rhythm
What is treatment for stable long term atrial fibrillation?
Beta-blocker or CCB (rate control)
and DOAC (reduce risk of embolism)
or
DC cardioversion and warfarin
