WHEN YOUR HEART SKIPS A BEAT: THE HIDDEN LINK BETWEEN ARRHYTHMIA AND SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST

It’s not unusual to feel the heart racing after a workout, a stressful meeting, or a strong cup of coffee. But when the heart starts beating too fast, too slow, or irregularly without an obvious cause, it might be more than just palpitations. Such rhythm disturbances are called arrhythmia and can sometimes lead to the way to a condition where the heart abruptly stops pumping blood, also known as sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Understanding this hidden connection can help detect danger before it strikes.

- DR VIRBHAN BALAI

WHAT IS ARRHYTHMIA AND WHICH TYPES OF ARRHYTHMIAS ARE GENERALLY HARMLESS?

During arrhythmia, the heart experiences an abnormal rhythm, mostly a fast heartbeat. In such cases, one can feel their own heartbeat, which is referred to as palpitations. On the contrary, during a normal heart rhythm, we usually do not perceive our heartbeat. Arrhythmias are mostly presented with a noticeably fast or irregular heart rate and may be accompanied by symptoms such as dizziness or fainting episodes, which are not seen in simple palpitations due to normal variations. In a normal heartbeat, the pulse is hardly ever felt by the person, but the person suffering from an arrhythmia might feel every single beat, which is also known as palpitations.

Some kind of arrhythmias, such as a few atrial premature contractions (APCs) or ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) with normal left ventricular (LV) function, are relatively harmless and not life-threatening. However, if someone has serious ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, then it can lead to cardiac arrest. So, APC and VPC with normal LV function could be sort of harmless, but ventricular tachycardia, ven-

Genetics: Strong family history, especially in conditions like hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), can trigger sudden cardiac events.