Atrial Fibrillation

An arrhythmia is any problem with the speed or pattern of your heartbeat.

Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is a common type of arrhythmia. It causes fast, chaotic electrical signals in the atria, leading to poor functioning of your heart. It also affects how much blood your heart can pump out to your body.

AFib may occur once in a while and go away on its own, or it may continue for longer periods and need treatment. It can lead to serious problems, such as stroke. Complications can include blood clots, stroke and heart failure if the heart muscle weakens so much that it can no longer pump blood well. Your health care provider will need to monitor and manage it.

Watchman Implant

CoxHealth was the first in the area to offer the Watchman device, technology that revolutionizes the way patients with AFib are protected against the risk of stroke. The tiny device (it's only 21 — 33 millimeters in size) is implanted during a non-invasive surgery and keeps blood from pooling in the heart and forming clots, which could otherwise lead to stroke. This treatment is revolutionary for patients who aren't able to take blood thinners to prevent clots. Ask your physician if Watchman might be right for you.

How Atrial Fibrillation is Treated

Medication

AFib may be treated with medicine to help slow your heartbeat, or to help your heart beat more regularly. Anti-clotting medicine may be prescribed to help reduce your risk for blood clots and stroke.

Electrial Cardioversion

Treatment may include electrical cardioversion, where your health care provider uses special pads or paddles to send one or more brief electrical shocks to your heart. This can help reset your heartbeat to normal.

Ablation

During this procedure, long, thin tubes called catheters are threaded through a blood vessel to your heart. There, the catheters send out hot or cold energy to the areas causing the abnormal signals. This energy destroys the problem tissue or cells, improving the chances that your heart will stay in normal rhythm without medicine. If your heart rate and rhythm can’t be controlled, you may need ablation and a pacemaker. These will help control the heart rate and regularity of the heartbeat.

Surgery

During surgery, your healthcare provider may use different methods to create scar tissue in the areas of your heart causing the abnormal signals. The scar tissue disrupts the abnormal signals and may stop AFib from occurring.

Devices

Various devices can be used to treat AFib, including pacemakers, defibrillator, loop recorders and the Watchman implant.

Causes & Symptoms

Causes

• Coronary artery disease
• Heart valve disease
• Heart attack
• Heart surgery
• High blood pressure
• Thyroid disease
• Diabetes
• Lung disease
• Sleep apnea
• Heavy alcohol use

In some cases of AFib, doctors don't know the cause.

Symptoms

• A fast, pounding, irregular heartbeat
• Shortness of breath
• Tiredness
• Dizziness or fainting
• Chest pain