Patient was educated on pathophysiology of ventricular flutter as follows:
- Heart has a natural pacemaker, SA node, which initiates the impulse for a heartbeat.
- The impulse initiated in the SA node, with the help of other conductive tissues, spreads along the rest of heart muscle, thus helping with the programmed opening and closing of heart valves, organized contraction of individual heart chambers, and preventing any disturbance to the normal blood flow.
- In a healthy heart with normally functioning SA node, the beats are evenly spaced out, at a rate of 60 – 100 beats/minute. This evenly spaced out pattern of heartbeats is called the normal heart rhythm or sinus rhythm.
- Ventricular flutter is a pathological condition, in which this normal sinus rhythm is disturbed. During ventricular flutter, the ventricles or lower chambers of the heart contract very rapidly than usual.
- In ventricular flutter, the impulse originated in the SA node reaches the ventricles and travels via an abnormal scar tissue circuit around the ventricles, in a continuous loop. Scar tissue can form during healing of the cardiac tissue from damage due to excessive cholesterol deposition, reduced blood flow to heart muscle, history of heart attack (myocardial infarction), and many more factors.
- This continuous stimulation of the ventricles at a rapid rate of 250 – 300 beats per minute results in rapid and more frequent contractions of the ventricles or lower chambers in comparison to the atria or upper chambers.
- This abnormal and rapid contraction of the lower chambers will put the heart out of synchronization with the contraction of the upper chambers, thus resulting in an abnormal heart rhythm.
- Effective and organized contraction of heart chambers is important for normal blood flow and adequate pumping of blood by heart to vital organs. Abnormal and rapid rhythm of ventricular flutter results in ineffective contractions of the heart chambers and poor pumping activity.
- Ineffective and abnormal contractions of the heart chambers result in compromised output of oxygenated blood volume from the heart and reduced flow to vital organs, thus affecting their function.
- This abnormal heart rhythm, if not treated as an emergency, can progress to life-threatening ventricular fibrillation.
