Coping with LEFT BUNDLE BRANCH BLOCK

This problem with the heart’s electrical wiring system is more common in older people

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Your heart has four chambers, two upper atria, and two lower ventricles.

Normally, the signal starting your heartbeat begins in the right atrium, travelling to the ventricles through the heart’s conduction system, including the right and left bundle branches. This triggers coordinated heart muscle contraction, pumping blood around the body.

In left bundle branch block (LBBB), electrical signals can’t travel as normal. Asignal may still get to the left ventricle, but it’s slower because, instead, the signal has to spread from the right bundle branch through to the left ventricle. Then the left ventricle contracts a little later than usual, causing uncoordinated, less effective contraction, which worsens any underlying heart failure. LBBB may be intermittent or constant, depending on the heart rate, for example occurring during exercise.

LBBB is more common in older people, usually occurring in those who have underlying heart conditions, including coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, heart valve disease, an enlarged/weakened heart muscle, heart infection, heart attack, congenital heart defects and even certain heart rhythm medicines.

It also can occur in apparently normal hearts, where researchers aren't sure of the cause. Often, LBBB by itself doesn’t cause symptoms, only being found on a routine electrocardiogram (ECG), a painless monitor of your heart activity, done for another reason. You're more likely to have symptoms if you’ve other problems in addition to your LBBB. In people with heart failure, it can sometimes worsen symptoms of shortness of breath and fatigue.