Complications of Supraventricular Tachycardia
When supraventricular tachycardia occurs in someone with significant coronary artery disease, the heart may not receive enough blood to keep up with the demands of the increased heart rate. If this occurs, the heart may not get enough oxygen (ischemia), potentially causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction).
Supraventricular tachycardia may result in heart failure, especially in people with diseases of the heart valves (particularly aortic stenosis or mitral stenosis) or with a weakened heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). And if supraventricular tachycardia persists for a long period of time, it may cause a normal heart to weaken and heart failure to develop (known as a tachycardia-mediated cardiomyopathy), although it is often reversible if the supraventricular tachycardia is corrected.
When it comes to the heart’s health, there are some things you can’t control -- like getting older, or having a parent with heart disease. But there are many more things you can do to lower the chances of sabotaging your ticker. “An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure in this instance,” says Gregg Fonarow, MD, an American Heart Association spokesman and associate chief of UCLA's division of cardiology. To help your heart keep on keeping on, here are 10 things not to do.
Read the How to Wreck Your Heart article > >
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