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The heart does not need to have electrical activity for defibrillation to work?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
No, what defibrillation does is 'reorganize' chaotic electrical activity known as ventricular fibrillation or pulseless V-Tach.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
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What consideration underscores the need for electrophysiology study tests?
The normal function of the heart depends on its electrical activity, and the effect of this activity on each of its cells. When a heart is diseased, impaired electrical activity is often the factor that leads to sudden death
Can a defibulator improve fatigue?
No, Defibrillation is the definitive treatment for the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Defibrillation consists of delivering a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the affected heart with a device called a defibrillator. If you use a defibrillator on a person who does not need it you would be placing them in great danger.
What is defibrillation?
Very rapid contractions or twitching of small muscle fibers in the heart often need to be stopped. A mechanism that does this is called a defibrillator. The act itself is call a defibrillation. Many times the top chambers of the heart go into fibrillation and are not as severe as the ones that occur in the bottom chambers called the ventricles. These must be stopped as quickly as possible.
An instrument for measuring heartbeats?
A stethoscope can be used to listen to the heart, the auscultations and valve sounds. There are many ways to "measure" a heart beat. The most effective tool is the ECG (electrocardiogram) which measures electrical activity of the heart. Because the electrical activity (electrical signals originating from the sino-atrial and atrio-ventricular nodes of the heart) is a direct indicator of the physical activity of the heart (contraction, relaxation, valve activity, etc) you can determine almost everything you need to know about the heart using an ECG, including its physical orientation within the mediastinum (sac containing the heart within the chest cavity). The time between each electrical impulse can be measured, thus giving elapsed time between each beat, and allowing you to determine how many times the heart contracts (beats) every minute - known as heart rate (HR). Presumably, this is what you mean by "measuring heartbeats", but an ECG is capable, as explained, of doing much more. Hope this helps, if you would like me to expand or go into more complex detail, let me know. Source: I am a Medical Student in the UK.
What does left atrial abnormality in ecg mean?
An electrocardiogram (ECG) records the electrical activity of the heart. It produces a trace of the heart working and the trace for an individual can be compared to that of a normal, healthy heart. A left atrial abnormality means that the ECG for the heart in question shows that there is something wrong with the electrical signal relating to the heart's left atrium.The left atrium is one of four chambers in the heart. It receives oxygenated blood from the pulmonary veins, and pumps it into the left ventricle, via the mitral valve.You need to get the doctor to explain the CAUSE of the anomalous electrical signal.
Can identical twins have separate heart rates?
Of course. Heart rate is dependent on activity and the need of an individual body to exchange blood and/or cool down. Even if the twins are performing the same activity their heart rates could be different.
When do your muscles need to respire faster?
your muscle dont respire, your heart and lungs need to respire more whilst taking part in a physical activity.
When doctors are trying to start up a heart with a defibrillator when is epinephrine given is it during or only after the heart's started beating again?
First of all, they don't always use epinephrine. You need to understand that they aren't actually trying to "start up" the heart, they are trying to correct a serious cardiac arrythmia. Now, forget about everything you see in movies for a second, any medical show/ movie on TV is full of medical inconsistency. See, defibrillators actually stop the heart's electrical activity rather than start it. The two conditions in which an external defibrillator is used are called Ventricular Fibrillation (V-Fib) and Ventricular Tachycardia (V-Tach). V-Fib is when the heart's electrical activity is completely disorganized and the heart is "twitching", V-Tach is basically when the heart is beating so fast that it is not moving blood. Both situations, as you can imagine, are very serious. The defibrillator shocks the patient to the point where the heart's electrical activity stops, and since the heart makes its own electrical impulse, it will then hopefully restart itself. So answering your question, epinephrine can be given in certain cases to attempt to help the heart restart itself. Usually an initial shock will be given beforehand but it will be given before other shocks if the heart does not restart itself the first time (which a LOT of times it does not). But thinking back to what I said about V-Tach, you do not want to give epinephrine to a patient whose heart is beating too fast to begin with. Sorry for the complex answer, but it's hard to answer a question like that without explaining some other things as well.
What things need a electrical circuit?
Electrical devices need an electrical circuit.
What is the defibrillator and how does it work?
Fibrillation is the medical term for what your heart does when it is not beating correctly. Defibrillator is the devise used to send a electric shock to your heart to stimultate it back into its regular beating mode, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Normally the heart cells fire in a orderly way controlled by natural pacemaker sites that are part of the heart. When the heart is fibrillating, cells are not firing in an organized way, the pacemaker sites have lost control. Often there is no damage YET and a heart attack, ( by definition causes an area of damage to the heart), has not happened yet.If just the top of the heart is fibrillating the defibrillation ( in this case often called a cardioversion) can sometimes be delayed without damage and the patient will remain conscious. If the bottom part or the whole heart is fibrillating they will not have a pulse, will often have a convulsion and will stop breathing. Defibrillation in this case must be done immediatly. If done within one minute there is up to a 90% chance of survival dropping 10% for each minute the defibrillation is delayed. There is no way that any EMS system can get there fast enough, that is why we need AEDs in areas of public assembly or high risk areas like Health Clubs and schools.Defibrillation resets the heart with an electrical discharge that fires all the muscle cells in the body ( that is why the body jerks when you push the button to fire the defibrillator. This resets the heart, like when you reset your computer. For a moment it actually stops all activity in the heart. If you were looking at a heart monitor you would see the activity go to flat line ( asystole) then, once ANY one of the three pacemaker sites cature the rhythm the heart can beat normally.If the fibrillation has caused sudden cardiac arrest the defibrilation must be done within 3-5 minutes from the time the heart fibrillates or the chances for survival drop below 50%. The average response time at BEST in the US is 4-10 minutes. The chance of survival drops 7-10% per minute.In the best paramedic systems in the US survival of out of hospital cardiac arrest is 2%-15%. In locations that have Automated External Defibrillators that have literally been used by 6th graders with minimal training and can NOT cause harm the survival rate improves to 70% or better.A difibrillator is the device that doctors, or regular people, use to start one's heart up again. It is the machine that shocks the heart so it beats again.what does a defibrillator look likeA piece of equipment used in resussitation when someone is in cardiac arrest or other cardiac related life threatening problems. It delivers a theraputic amount of electrical energy to the affected area of the heart to allow normal sinus rhythm.
Why do people need to sit as still as possible during the recording of an ECG?
ECG recordings are based off of dipoles of electrical activity on the heart as measured through the detection of small electrical wave changes on the skin. This is a very precise measurement and especially with 12-lead monitors, movement can create "artifact" or false dipole readings because of either muscle activity or manipulation of the leads. This can mask findings that could be important for the care of the patient. Healthcare professionals are trained to recognize artifact, but the patient should remain as still as possible so the machine can get a good reading.
How does regular participation in physical activity increase life expectancy?
Taking part in regular exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.
