MODERATOR: This is a ordinary heartbeat. [Heart BEATING] Atrial fibrillation interrupts this typical conquer.

FRED KUSUMOTO, M.D.: “In atrial fibrillation, rather of the atria squeezing in a ordinary typical style, the atria conquer irregularly and chaotically.”

MODERATOR: Dr. Fred Kusumoto is an electrophysiologist at Mayo Clinic.

FRED KUSUMOTO, M.D.: “In some circumstances people today come to feel their coronary heart palpitating or beating very, very quickly or a flip-flop in their coronary heart or upper body place. Other occasions, people today just discover that they’re extra small of breath when they walk upstairs.”

MODERATOR: Dr. Kusumoto claims atrial fibrillation decreases the heart’s blood pumping efficiency and puts a patient at bigger threat for blood clots, coronary heart failure, and stroke. In some circumstances, atrial fibrillation can be corrected with medication or by administering a shock to a sedated patient’s coronary heart. In other circumstances, a method called catheter ablation might be applied to scar tissue that’s producing the erratic signals–[Heart BEATING]– in the hopes of getting back to that ordinary conquer.