Vanderbilt Heart Signature Program

Cardiac arrhythmia is the term doctors use to describe an irregular heartbeat. In other words, the heart is not contracting at its regular rhythm. Millions of people suffer from arrhythmia, which can be life threatening.

There are several types of arrhythmia. People with mild forms of arrhythmia may not even notice them. Others, however, suffer from dizziness, fainting, palpitations (unusually rapid beating of the heart), and, in severe cases, death.

Services and Treatments
The Cardiac Arrhythmia Program provides consultation and treatment of patients with complex heart disturbances. We look at each patient with his or her own unique problem,  and learn about their background, medical history, and present health. To find the cause of the arrhythmia we may perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure the regularity and strength of your heartbeat or we may use a specialized arrhythmia examination.

Once we determine whether you suffer from arrhythmia, our team at the Cardiac Arrhythmia Program can help you decide on a therapeutic intervention for your specific rhythm disorder.

Treatments include management of the rhythm disturbance with medication. Another option is the implantation of a permanent pacemaker, which is a device that provides electrical impulses to help the heart contract when the natural heartbeat slows down for any reason.

Your physician may also recommend the implementation of an internal defibrillator. This device is about the size of a pager and is implanted below the collarbone. It helps monitor the heart’s rhythm. If the heart beats too rapidly, it may not pump enough blood to the rest of your body. This could cause death. In cases where the heart beats too fast, the internal defibrillator jolts electricity to the heart to restore your regular heartbeat.

Another treatment option is the use of radio frequency ablation, which is a nonsurgical procedure that is used to treat some types of rapid heartbeat. During this procedure, your doctor will transmit radio frequency energy (similar to microwave heat) to a very small area of heart muscle cells. The physician will then destroy these carefully selected cells to stop them from giving your heart extra impulses that cause rapid heartbeat.

Current research
The Cardiac Arrhythmia Program is on the leading edge of emerging treatment technologies. These include new drugs and devices, advanced mapping (to get a good picture of your heart system) and ablative therapies (to destroy abnormalities) for difficult arrhythmias.

Examples of difficult arrhythmias are atrial tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation. Tachycardia is a fast heart rate that may begin in the upper chambers of your heart (the atria) or the lower chambers of your heart (the ventricles). Atrial fibrillation is a very fast and uncontrolled heart rhythm that occurs when the upper chambers of the heart only quiver because they try to beat too fast.

Ongoing research is very important for the Cardiac Arrhythmia Program. Currently we are exploring new medications, new applications for implantable defibrillators and pacemakers, molecular studies of ion channels (how electrically charged tiny particles flow in and out of cells), and genetic studies of cardiac arrhythmias. We are also developing new ways to manage atrial fibrillation.

Providers
Dawood Darbar, MD, PhD, Director, Vanderbilt Arrhythmia Service
Walter K. Clair, MD
John T. Lee, MD
Katherine T. Murray, MD
Dan M. Roden, MD
Jeffrey N. Rottman, MD
Pablo Saavedra, MD
Mark S. Wathen, MD