Tachycardia

Your heart is as important to us as it is to you. From pinpointing the cause of atrial or supraventricular tachycardia to emergency treatment and ongoing care of ventricular tachycardia, you’ll receive expert care from some of the most experienced and compassionate heart specialists in the region.

What is tachycardia?

Tachycardia is an abnormally fast heartbeat. If you have this common type of arrhythmia, your heart beats more than 100 beats per minute. Our experts are here to help you get back to a healthy heart rhythm, which typically is 60 to 100 heart beats per minute.

Types of tachycardia

Doctors describe tachycardia by the location in your heart.

Atrial tachycardia

Atrial tachycardia originates in your heart’s upper chambers (atria). Usually this type of tachycardia is not life-threatening but it may be a sign of a more serious heart condition.

Supraventricular tachycardia

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) happens somewhere above your heart’s lower chambers (ventricles). Generally, supraventricular tachycardia is not dangerous unless you have other heart health problems.

Ventricular tachycardia

Ventricular tachycardia can be life-threatening. It occurs in your heart’s lower chambers (ventricles) and may be a sign you have an underlying serious heart condition. Episodes can last for a few seconds without causing harm. However, longer episodes can lead to ventricular fibrillation (VFib), a medical emergency in which your heart’s lower chambers quiver instead of pumping blood out to the rest of your body.

Symptoms of tachycardia

Sometimes your doctor may first detect the signs of atrial or supraventricular tachycardia during an exam or tests for other conditions. Other times, you may experience symptoms such as:

• Fluttering in your chest or heart palpitations
• Racing heartbeat or pounding pulse
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Lightheadedness, dizziness or fainting
• Throat tightness
• Sweating

Causes & risk factors of tachycardia

There are several factors that can trigger atrial or supraventricular tachycardia or increase your risk of developing the conditions. Factors that can cause tachycardia include:

• Age
• Obesity
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• Genetics or inherited defects
• Excessive caffeine consumption
• Use of alcohol and drugs, such as amphetamines and cocaine
• Side effect of medications, including over-the-counter medicines and herbal supplements
• Diabetes, sleep apnea, thyroid disease, anemia, lung disease or other conditions
• Changes or damage to your heart from a heart attack, cardiomyopathy or other heart conditions

Ventricular tachycardia is usually the result of an underlying heart condition, such as coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, mitral valve prolapse or valvular heart disease. And if you’ve had previous episodes or a heart attack, you may have a greater risk of experiencing additional episodes.

Diagnosing tachycardia

Ventricular tachycardia is usually diagnosed in an emergency setting. If you have other types of irregular heartbeat, your doctor will likely refer you to an electrophysiologist, a doctor who specializes in the electrical system of the heart and treating arrhythmias. The first step is determining what is triggering your abnormal rhythm.

We’ll begin with a thorough physical exam and listen to your heart with a stethoscope to check for an irregular heartbeat.

To pinpoint the type and cause of tachycardia, we may order tests for you, such as:

• Lab testing to check your electrolyte, thyroid hormone or other levels
• Chest X-ray to examine the structure of your heart and lungs
• Electrocardiogram (EKG) to record the electrical activity of your heart and check your heart rhythm
• Echocardiogram, a heart ultrasound that creates images of your heart’s structures and cardiovascular system
• Portable monitoring such as:
  • Holter monitoring, which uses a small, battery-powered EKG that continuously records your heart rate and rhythm over a 24-hour period
  • Transtelephonic monitoring, which monitors and records your heart rate and rhythm over a longer period
• Cardiac catheterization, where we guide a long, thin tube called a catheter through an artery to your heart to find out what kind of arrhythmia you may have and where it starts. We may also test medicines during this procedure to see which ones will work best in treating your arrhythmia.

Find out more about our heart and vascular testing and diagnosis.

Treating tachycardia

If you need tachycardia treatment, you’re in the right place. As a recognized center of excellence for treating complex arrhythmias, our specialists at the Advocate Heart Institute are some of the most experienced in the Midwest in cardiac ablation, defibrillator implants and other advanced treatments for tachycardia.

To get you back to a healthy rhythm, we’ll look at the cause of your tachycardia, severity of the episodes and your health history to develop a personalized treatment plan that’s right for you.

Tachycardia treatments

Sometimes, making lifestyle changes may be all you need. Other times we may recommend:

• Medication for tachycardia such as beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, anti-arrhythmic drugs or blood thinners, which slow your heartbeat and prevent blood clots
• Cardioversion, where our specialists send an electrical pulse to your heart to correct the arrhythmia and quickly restore your normal rhythm
• Cardiac ablation, a minimally invasive procedure where we may use the stereotaxis magnetic navigation technology to gently guide a catheter to your heart and use heat or extreme cold to destroy the tissue causing your abnormal rhythm
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator, where we implant a small electronic device that monitors your heartbeat and, when necessary, delivers electrical pulses to restore a normal rhythm