Ventricular Fibrillation

Question: What kind of Ventricular fibrillation is not dangerous or life-threatening? What kind of Ventricular fibrillation is not dangerous or life-threatening? That's allowed to live with it with a simple pacemaker (not ICD) to pace it out when it happens.

Answer: all v-fib is life threatening, maybe you mean atrial fibrillation, that is commonly treated with a pacemaker if cardioversion is unsuccessful and the heart rate is too low.

Question: how do class 1b antiarrythmic drugs help in the treatment of ventricular fibrillation? in respect to cardiac cycle: if the repolarisation is quicker how does that treat ventricular arrythmias?

Answer: When the heart beats, an electrical impulse is fired from a special area of cells in the upper right atrium of the heart, this is known as the SA pacemaker, after the impulse travels along the atria, it enters the AV node, another pacemaker cell bunch that slows down the impulse for the atria to pump blood into the ventricles, the impulse then enters and depolarizes the ventricles causing them to contract, like the atria, however, the ventricular cells must "sleep" and are unable to be activated until they "wake up" which usually takes but a few milliseconds, this is known as repolarization, where the cells are preparing to carry a new electrical signal. In a case in which some of these cells become repolarized before the rest, they are able to take an impulse, an if an impulse arises from the ventricles (PVC), it activates these cells, and they contract, now the other cells are ready to take the impulse and they contract, however, the first set of cells are recovering and are unable to take the impulse, this causes a cycle of un-uniform contracting and relaxing in the ventricles - or ventricular fibrillation. Class 1B antiarrhythmic drugs decrease the time for repolarization thus cutting the risk of an abnormal beat triggering some recovered cells, as now, all the cells will recover almost simultaniously.

Question: How come there is no P wave in ventricular fibrillation? I get that the ventricles are quivering and no CO occurs. But how come there is no p wave on an EKG? The atria should still be working fine because v fib is a problem with the ventricles.

Answer: The atrial depolarization is so minor compared to the ventricles. The ventricles are depolarizing so fast that the P waves are just buried in the ECG.

Question: What causes a person to sweat if they have ventricular fibrillation?

Answer: I would guess it's a side effect of sympathetic tone. The sympathetic nervous system attempts to speed up the heart rhythm and make it contract with more force. The sweat glands also respond to this same kind of sympathetic signal.

Question: Can Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Respose cause Ventricular Fibrillation?

Answer: Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Respose cause Ventricular Fibrillation when it is associated with accessory pathway (WPW Syndrome). In this situation, the ventricular rate is very high, of the order of 300 because the impulse conducts down the normal pathway as well as the accessory pathway. When the number of impulses are very high the ventricle cannot keep track for a long period and goes into ventricular fibrillation, unless the atrial fibrillation is treated promptly.

Question: How long does ventricular fibrillation last without treatment? After witnessed v-fib, does the rhythm immediately deteriorate into asystole? Within 5-6, 10-15, or 20-30minutes

Answer: vtach first then v fib then asystole in code blueor brady cardic to assystole in no code patients

Question: Ventricular Fibrillation. How does it start/happen? Is there a cause or reason to how and why it happens to humans? Medically and Scientifically speaking. I'd like to know. Thanks in advance!

Answer: It is caused because the heart tissue has been damaged in some way (usually ischemic damage like a heart attack) and ventricular cells are beginning to fire on their own, rather than responding to the conducting system of the heart's own pacemaker. The heart doesn't really end up pumping any blood because the ventricular beats are fast, small, and unorganized.

Question: May ventricular fibrillation occur during a barbiturate overdose?

Answer: V fib can and does occur during just about any type of overdose.

Question: Ventricular fibrillation is life threatening since? a. Ventricles are not generating enough pressure to send the blood throughout the body b. Ventricles are not generating enough pressure to send blood to the skin. Hence this is why the patient is so cold. c. Ventricles are generating too much pressure causing hypertension d. Ventricles are not generating enough pressure to send blood to the legs Is it A?

Answer: It is A, that's the only one that indicates life threatening

Question: Question about ventricular fibrillation? A friend of mine had a patient who's cheif complaint was "feeling sick." While monitoring the patient he noticed that every 5 minutes or so the monitor would show ventricular fibrillation in leads II, III, and aVF for a duration of no more than 2 seconds. Patient has a cardiac history and is on 2 unknown cardiac meds. It seems that if it happens every 5 minutes then it is unlikely that it is a malfunction with the monitor. What is a possible cause of this? I have never heard of this. My friend is a first responder who was on the call, but it was a medic and EMT-I who identified the rhythm as v-fib. He now tells me that the pt. was on warfarin and a second unknown cardiac drug (by unknown I mean the pt. didn't know and there was no bottle around to identify the second medication). He asked his partners if it was v-fib or just a run of v-tach, and they both said it was v-fib. There is no way it is from the pt. messing with the lead or electrode because it occured every 5 minutes (give or take a few seconds) for the duration of a 30 minute transport. The reason I am asking this question is because in my paramedic training I have never heard of intermitant v-fib. I know that runs of v-tach happen in some patients, but I have never seen v-tach on a monitor and not been in the process of shocking and preforming CPR. I know people are trying to be helpful by explaining what v-fib is, but I feel I should add that I have been through paramedic school, and am aware of what v-fib is and how it is treated. I also wasn't clear enough. This was a pre-hospital call on an ambulance. There was a CFR, an EMT-I, and an EMT-P with the pt. for the duration of the 30 minute transport. The patient was taken to a Level I trauma center, and all information was given to a MD and RN upon arrival. A 12-lead EKG was never done (I don’t know why, but that’s how it happened). The alleged “runs of v-fib" were seen using a Lifepak 12 only in monitor mode with just the 4 limb leads hooked up. Because the runs only lasted for up to 2 seconds there were never printed out, but both the medic and EMT-I are confident that what they saw was v-fib and not v-tach (which is the logical explanation).

Answer: He needs to be seen by a cardiologist and have some tests made to determine if he is having intermittent runs of v-fib. He sounds like he needs an Internal Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD) implanted. If he's having intermittent runs of v-fib, he's more than likely having intermittent runs of v-tach. It may have been v-tach they were witnessing if the size of the rhythm (gain) is low. Either way, both are life threatening and need immediate intervention.

Question: ventricular fibrillation? do you know why ventricular fibrillation is the most common rhythm of cardiac arrest?

Answer: Ventricular fibrillation is when the ventricle just quivers and doesn't pump blood. The Left ventricle is responsible for pumping blood the the entire body, which can cause a problem if it isn't working. Then it won't take long for the blood to start to back up which the blood would be backing into the lungs which poses a problem with breathing. So Ventricular is quite a bit more serious that atrial fibrilation due to the fact that even if the atria isn't on top of it's game than the ventricles will still have some amount of blood to pump out. The ventricles area also larger and stronger than the atria due to the fact they are responsible for pumping the blood alot further so it needs to pump with greater force! Hope that helps ya!

Question: I would like to learn and understand Ventricular Fibrillation...why does it occur and is it permanent? Are there medication to help this disease?

Answer: Ventricular Fibrillation is when they lie/fib to you about how much air is coming thru your air vents. JK JK JOKE

Question: treatment of ventricular fibrillation question? what was the treatment of ventricular fibrillation besides defibrillation in the 1960s and 1970s?

Answer: I think the answer you are looking for is Precordial Thump.

Question: how many times can a person be resuscitated by useing ventricular fibrillation?

Answer: One type of cardiac arrest is when a persons heart goes into Ventricular fibrilation (VF) which means the heart is in an abnormal rhythm and is not pumping blood - the only way to get the heart beating normally again is to defibrillate (shock) the heart. This sometimes shock the heart to sinus rhythm (normal) and sometimes to asystole (no rhythm at all). In the latest guidelines a shock should be delivered followed by 2 minutes of CPR (chest compressions). The reason for this is that a shock can stun the heart into asystole and CPR pumps the blood until the heart comes out of the stunned period. Sometimes the shock does not work - as many shocks as necessary can be delivered but usually if it is going to work then it should happen by the third shock. Defibrillation is not a recommended treatment for someone in Asystole. Early defibrillation is the most important treatment for someone in VF so the most important thing you can do is call for medical help - then do some CPR.

Question: how we can differentiate coarse ventricular fibrillation from ventricular fibrillation?

Answer: Via an ECG trace.

Question: chances of cardiac arrest (ventricular fibrillation) occuring twice? Hello, My Girlfriend went into cardiac arrest when she was 14, and was saved by an AED. Now she has been fine for about 5 years now, however im still worried that it could happen again. Her doctors say theres nothing to worry about, but im still worried that it will happen again. Any insight? *She does have a defibrillator Thank you

Answer: As long as the implanted defibrillator is checked out regularly and she presents no new symtoms, she sounds like she is doing quite well. Just make sure that she maintains her regular check-up schedule with her cardiologist.