Types of Tachycardia: Symptoms and Possible Causes

We have all felt our hearts racing at some point. We see someone we are attracted to, we are nervous or stressed, we have an anxiety crisis, we exercise… our heart races to a greater or lesser extent in all of these cases.

However, sometimes this acceleration is excessive and even dangerous, exceeding normal values ​​and may require medical intervention. We are talking about tachycardias. In this article we will see the main types of tachycardias its symptoms and possible causes.

Tachycardia: concept and symptoms

We understand tachycardia as all that acceleration or increase in heart rate that exceeds values ​​considered normal. This value is usually around one hundred beats per minute in adult subjects. Thus, those people who had a heart rate greater than one hundred beats per minute would suffer from tachycardia, and could reach up to around four hundred. It is an arrhythmia or alteration in heart rate, like bradycardia (although the latter would be the opposite of tachycardia, that is, in bradycardia the heart rate slows down while in tachycardia it accelerates).

Exaggerated increase in heart rate causes the heart to pump blood too quickly not being able to transport enough oxygen to the rest of the body. Although most of those that occur to us do not involve serious damage, they can reduce the life expectancy of the heart muscle and can predict and even cause myocardial infarctions.

Some of the typical symptoms of tachycardia are the presence of dizziness, a feeling of suffocation and weakness (due to lack of enough oxygen), as well as breathing difficulties. The presence of palpitations, tremors in the chest and pain in the chest is common.

Tachycardia too can cause alterations in the level of consciousness including syncope or fainting. However, in some cases tachycardias are asymptomatic, which carries the risk of detecting them too late.

Risk factors and possible causes

The human heart is an organ that can be affected by a large number of both physical and psychological elements. In this way, the presence of some type of arrhythmia or alteration in heart rate such as tachycardia can have very diverse origins. These are the most frequent causes.

Different types of tachycardias

There is a wide variety of elements that can cause tachycardia. These elements cause some type of morphological or functional alteration of any of the parts of the heart. Thus, we can find the following types of tachycardia.

1. Sinus tachycardia

This type of tachycardia is what usually occurs during episodes of anxiety, during states of anemia, in people with heart failure, after exercising or after consuming substances such as alcohol. Does not require treatment in itself, although it is necessary to focus on the element that caused it.

2. Supraventricular tachycardias

It is an acceleration in the heart rate whose origin may be found in alterations in the functioning of the atria, the upper chambers of the heart. They can also occur due to problems in the atrioventricular node, the node that joins the atria and ventricles. There are different types of supraventricular tachycardias such as the following.

atrial tachycardia

These types of tachycardia occur in a specific area of ​​the atria. They last a long time and are usually difficult to remove. They usually arise from chronic disorders such as bronchitis, and need to be treated medically or may even require surgery to restore normal function.

atrial fibrillation

During an episode of atrial fibrillation, the heart rate begins to accelerate, presenting irregular changes in the heartbeat pattern. It is common in the elderly.

This is the most common type of arrhythmia, which may or may not cause symptoms. However, it is linked to the appearance of thrombi and ischemic attacks. It must be treated pharmacologically both to stop the arrhythmia and to reduce the possibility of new episodes and possible thrombi.

Atrial flutter

This is a type of tachycardia in which there is an increase in heart rate, reaching around 150 beats per minute on a regular basis. It is caused during the atrial reentry process a phenomenon in which part of the heart has not been activated in time along with the rest of the organ and acts by causing a greater number of heartbeats by causing new ones.

Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias

This type of tachycardia is also due to alterations in the atria, but in the case of paroxysmal tachycardias, the acceleration of the heart rate begins and ends slowly.

In this case they usually cause symptoms and do not go unnoticed, causing shortness of breath, chest pain, discomfort and palpitations. They usually occur due to the reentry phenomenon described above. The presence of the arrhythmia is treated through vagal stimulation or pharmacologically, in addition to requiring preventive measures to avoid future cases.

Within this group we can also find nodal reentrant tachycardia and tachycardia with participation of the accessory pathway, these two cases being due to alterations in the atrioventricular node.

3. Ventricular tachycardias

They are due to problems originating in the ventricles. This type of tachycardia It is considered malignant, since it poses a certain danger to life. They are more common than supraventricular tachycardias in people with heart disease.

Within this group we can find several types of tachycardia, including the following.

Ventricular extrasystoles

There is a problem or alteration in a specific point of the ventricle. This alteration causes the heartbeat to come earlier than usual with a short pause until the arrival of the next normal heartbeat. They may not cause symptoms, and if they do not occur in subjects with heart disease they do not usually have a bad prognosis, although in cases where they cause discomfort they can be treated medically.

Sustained ventricular tachycardia

Due to problems or an alteration in the functioning of the ventricles, the heart rate rises to abnormal levels continuously. This is one of those that pose the greatest risk of death. They usually cause loss of consciousness and obvious symptoms such as dizziness, pain and palpitation.

This type of tachycardia usually indicates the presence of heart disease, which must be investigated to avoid future recurrences. This type of tachycardia can be treated with a defibrillator to recover the normal rhythm or with drugs. It may require surgery to install internal defibrillators to prevent potentially fatal arrhythmias.

Non-sustained ventricular tachycardia

Occasionally, brief episodes of tachycardia occur that end spontaneously. In the case of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia, a set of consecutive impulses are given that subside in less than thirty seconds. If there is heart disease, it is usually linked to a poor prognosis and monitoring and preventive treatment should be performed. There is a possibility of sudden death.

ventricular fibrillation

This is a potentially fatal type of tachycardia. losing consciousness during it is common. The heartbeats no longer have a fixed pattern, not having an effective frequency but rather the organ beats in a disorganized manner, with different intensity and with a variable temporal separation between beats.