glossary

means your heart is beating too fast, too slow, or with an irregular pattern. Your heart has an electrical system that tells it when to beat and push blood around the body. If there is a problem with this system you may experience an abnormal heart rhythm ...more at the British Heart Foundation

is a fast, irregular rhythm where single muscle fibers in your heart twitch or contract. It is a main cause of stroke, especially among elderly people. Atrial fibrillation may cause blood to pool in the heart's upper chambers. The pooled blood can lead to the formation of clumps of blood called blood clots. A stroke can occur if a blood clot travels from the heart and blocks a smaller artery in the brain (a cerebral artery). For this reason, many patients with atrial fibrillation need antiplatelet therapy. These medicines can prevent blood clots from forming and causing a stroke ...more at the British Heart Foundation

Is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in a patient,[1] and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm. With simple audio and visual commands, AEDs are designed to be simple to use for the layperson

Abnormally slow heart action. Bradycardia is a very slow heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute. It happens when the electrical impulse that signals the heart to contract is not formed in your heart's natural pacemaker, the sinoatrial node (SA node), or is not sent to the heart's lower chambers (the ventricles) through the proper channels. Bradycardia most often affects elderly people, but it may affect even the very young. It may be caused by one of two sources: The central nervous system does not signal that the heart needs to pump more, or the SA node may be damaged. This damage might be related to heart disease, aging, inherited or congenital defects, or it might be caused by certain medicines—including those used to control arrhythmias and high blood pressure

Brugada syndrome is a rare inherited heart rhythm disturbance that restricts the flow of sodium ions into the heart cells. As a result, the flow of electrical impulses through the heart is disrupted, which can lead to life-threatening heart rhythms. Brugada syndrome more commonly affects young men of South East Asian descent. It is not a common condition in the western world, but those affected are mainly young to middle-aged men and some women. ...more at the British Heart Foundation

Complete cessation of cardiac activity either electric, mechanical, or both; may be purposely induced for therapeutic reasons

respond to local emergency calls and provide life saving first aid in those vital minutes before an ambulance arrives ...more at St Johns Ambulance

A defibrillator is an electrical device that provides a shock to the heart when there is a life-threatening arrhythmia present. The arrhythmia that we worry about is called ventricular fibrillation. This is a very rapid erratic beating of the heart.

is a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is decreased because the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, is enlarged and weakened. In some cases, it prevents the heart from relaxing and filling with blood as it should ...more at the British Heart Foundation

AKA myocardial infarction (MI) A heart attack is a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot. Lack of blood to the heart can seriously damage the heart muscle. A heart attack is known medically as a myocardial infarction or MI. Symptoms can include: chest pain – the chest can feel like it is being pressed or squeezed by a heavy object, and pain can radiate from the chest to the jaw, neck, arms and back shortness of breath feeling weak and/or lightheaded overwhelming feeling of anxiety It is important to stress that not everyone experiences severe chest pain; the pain can often be mild and mistaken for indigestion. It is the combination of symptoms that is important in determining whether a person is having a heart attack, and not the severity of chest pain. A heart attack is not a cardiac arrest

is an inherited disease of your heart muscle, where the muscle wall of your heart becomes thickened ...more at the British Heart Foundation

relating to or denoting any disease or condition which arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown

describes the group of conditions responsible for life-threatening, rapid rhythm disturbances without any signs of the heart diseases described above. In some of these patients, changes on their ECG known as early repolarisation, have been seen. This has become known as early repolarisation syndrome and in a few cases mutations of potassium and calcium ion channel genes have been found. Early repolarisation can, however, be seen on the ECGs of many normal healthy people. The diagnosis and treatment of this condition is therefore still unclear but an ICD is needed in patients who have suffered a cardiac arrest.

An ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) is an electronic device that constantly monitors your heart rhythm. When it detects a very fast, abnormal heart rhythm, it delivers energy to the heart muscle. This causes the heart to beat in a normal rhythm again.

is a cardiac conduction abnormality seen on the electrocardiogram (ECG). In this condition, activation of the left ventricle of the heart is delayed, which causes the left ventricle to contract later than the right ventricle

Medical term for heart attack (HA)

A less serious type of ventricular arrhythmia is a premature ventricular contraction (PVC). As the name suggests, the condition happens when the ventricles contract too soon, out of sequence with the normal heartbeat. PVCs (sometimes called PVB for premature ventricular beat) generally are not a cause for alarm and often do not need treatment. But if you have heart disease or a history of ventricular tachycardia, PVCs can cause a more serious arrhythmia. Although most PVCs happen quickly and without warning, they can also happen in response to caffeine, which is found in coffee, tea, sodas, and chocolate. Some kinds of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines may also cause PVCs.

is resumption of sustained perfusing cardiac activity associated with significant respiratory effort after cardiac arrest. Signs of ROSC include breathing, coughing, or movement and a palpable pulse or a measurable blood pressure.

aka Sudden Adult Death Syndrome ...more SADS

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a condition in which the heartbeat stops abruptly and unexpectedly. This usually is caused by ventricular fibrillation (VF), an abnormality in the heart's electrical system. When this happens, blood stops flowing to the brain the heart and the rest of the body, and the person collapses. In fact, the victim is clinically dead and will remain so unless someone helps immediately. A quick combination of CPR and defibrillation can restore life.

An abnormally rapid heart rate. Tachycardia is a very fast heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute. The many forms of tachycardia depend on where the fast heart rate begins. If it begins in the ventricles, it is called ventricular tachycardia. If it begins above the ventricles, it is called supraventricular tachycardia.

Is the most serious cardiac rhythm disturbance. The lower chambers quiver and the heart can't pump any blood, causing cardiac arrest. How it works. The heart's electrical activity becomes disordered

is a pulse of more than 100 beats per minute with at least three irregular heartbeats in a row. It is caused by a malfunction in the heart's electrical system. Your heart rate is controlled by electrical impulses that trigger each contraction and determine the rhythm of the heart. This is the most serious arrhythmia and you may have several impulses that begin at the same time from different locations—all telling the heart to beat. The result is a much faster, chaotic heartbeat that sometimes reaches 300 beats a minute. This chaotic heartbeat means very little blood is pumped from the heart to the brain and body and can result in collapse and without immediate medical attention death.