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Ablation: Procedure to treat Afib that uses the blood vessels to access or reach the heart. A small, flexible catheter is passed into the heart through a tiny opening in the vein or artery in the groin that will deliver radio frequency waves to ablate or “burn” the area causing the Afib.
Anti-arrhythmic medication: A medication aimed at maintaining sinus rhythm, and suppressing atrial fibrillation.
Anticoagulation: The process of thinning the blood and keeping it thin to prevent clot formation. Medications often used: Warfarin or aspirin.
Atrium: (plural: atria), Top chambers of the heart: right and left. Right atrium receives blood from the body, and the left atrium receives blood from the lungs. When the atria contract in response to a normal electrical impulse, blood is ejected (pumped) into the ventricles.
Atrial fibrillation (Afib): Irregular pulse rate due to multiple chaotic impulses firing within the atrium and variably conducted or carried down through the AV node to the ventricles.
AV Node: Specialized node of tissue in the heart that serves as an electrical connection, or relay, between the atria (top chambers) and ventricles (bottom chambers) of the heart. It plays a key role in controlling heart rate, by working like a gate-keeper to the ventricles, determining how many impulses are carried through.
Bundle Branches: Tracts of fibers that carry impulses from the AV node down throughout the ventricles. Starting in a bundle of electrical tracts called the Bundle of His and the tracts then branch into the right and left bundle branch. The right bundle branch carries impulses to the right ventricle; the left bundle branch carries impulses to the left ventricle. The left bundle further divides into two sub-branches called the anterior fascicle and posterior fascicle which each help to distribute or spread the impulse throughout the larger left ventricle.
Cardioversion: An approach to convert (change) the heart rhythm from atrial fibrillation into sinus rhythm. May be accomplished by an electrical shock or by special medication.
Lone Afib: Atrial fibrillation that occurs in an otherwise structurally normal heart, in a patient without other cardiac disease.
Pacemaker: An electrical device (a small metal case containing a tiny battery, and computer chip) that creates an electrical impulse to stimulate the heart muscle to contract (squeeze) to keep the heart rate from going to slowly, and to steady the heart.
Palpitations: A term often used to describe an irregular heart beat, or the sensation of skipped or extra heart beats.
Stroke: A sudden change or loss of consciousness or loss of some neurological function (speech, movement, balance, comprehension) that is caused by a clot lodging in one of the blood vessels that provides blood to the brain.
Thoracotomy: An incision made through the chest wall; Used in surgical approaches to treating Afib.
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