Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska -- The heart is the most important muscle of the human body, but having a bigger heart doesn’t make it better.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm problem and the second most common condition seen at the cardiopulmonary clinic at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson hospital, said Milisha Stevens, 673d Medical Operation Squadron cardiology physician’s assistant.
A-fib increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. It occurs when the electric rhythm of the heart becomes abnormal due to the heart scarring, stretching or growing.
When this occurs the top two chambers of the heart, the left and right atria, can’t pump blood out effectively, leaving blood behind. As the blood pools, it can form clots, which can travel to the brain through blood vessels and cause strokes.
Most cases of A-fib are found accidently after a stroke because the symptoms are hard to tie to A-fib alone. They include; a mild chest ‘tightness’ or pain, feeling lightheaded, having trouble breathing during exercise and feeling as though the heart is racing or skipping a beat.
Some patients have ‘grown’ their atria to a point that they might have A-fib for the rest of their life, but in other cases where the heart is a normal size, the disease can be acute or chronic.
The heart commonly grows due to high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. If the heart isn’t exercised regularly, it can become weak and thin, resulting in a stretch of the atrium.
“Sometimes, we can attribute a sudden case of A-fib to an illness, like pneumonia … and other times after a surgery [called] post-op A-fib, [that lasts] a day or two and then never shows up again,” Stevens said.
To catch it early, identify the symptoms or use an automated blood pressure cuff, one is available at the JBER hospital in front of the pharmaceutical clinic. Newer models of blood pressure cuffs can catch an irregularity in heartbeat.
Additionally, the cardiopulmonary clinic have a few machines to catch this disease when tested. Electrocardiograms and echocardiograms are tests to check for A-fib, through electric waves monitored on a graph and an ultrasound for a visual display, respectively.
If the problem is recurring, they also provide a holter monitor, which is a portable device that records the rhythm of the heart over the course of 24 to 48 hours by means of electrodes on the chest.
The cardiopulmonary clinic usually provides treatment for A-fib if the patient shows more than two risk factors that can worsen the condition. If the patient has congestive heart failure, vascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, or history of a stroke, or is a female 65 years or older, they have a higher risk of further complications.
A-fib can be treated with medicine, either to regulate the speed of the heartbeat or to thin the blood to prevent clots from forming. It can also be treated with ‘cardioversion,’ a procedure that applies a mild electrical current to the heart to fix its rhythm.
Anyone can control a few factors that help reduce the chance of getting this disease. Limiting caffeine and alcohol intake, as well as losing weight and exercising regularly are all ways to help regulate heartrate and heart pressure.
“The heart works well when you take care of it,” Stevens said.