Types, Causes and Symptoms of a Heart Block

The ticker beats irregularly and more slowly than usual, potentially stopping for up to 20 seconds at a time in heart block which is due to a delay, obstruction, or disruption along the pathway that electrical impulses travel through to make the heart beat which can result from an injury or damage to the heart muscle or heart valves.

Heart Block- A healthy human ticker beats at about 60 to 100 times a minute. A contraction of the heart muscles is what a heartbeat is that pushes blood around the body. Electrical signals that travel from the atria, or the upper chambers of the heart, to the ventricles, or the lower chambers controls every heart muscle contraction. When the electrical impulses are delayed or stopped, what occurs is a partial heart block that prevents the ticker from beating regularly. A complete heart block happens when the electrical signals stop completely. A heart block sometimes makes it difficult for the ticker to pump properly through the circulatory system, so the muscles and vital organs do not get enough oxygen to function properly.

The symptoms include lightheadedness, fainting, and palpitations which can be dangerous depending on the severity of the block. For instance, a third-degree heart block can worsen pre-existing conditions, such as heart failure which can cause loss of consciousness and even sudden cardiac arrest. On the other hand, coronary heart disease occurs with buildup of a waxy substance, called plaque in the coronary arteries which can cause chest pain, known as angina, or heart attack, also called myocardial infarction (MI).

Types:

1.      First-degree heart block

2.      Second-degree heart block

3.      Third-degree or complete heart block

Causes:

In a healthy ticker, electrical impulses that travel inside a heart muscle instruct it to contract, or beat that move along a pathway, from the upper heart chambers, through the atrioventricular (AV) node, to the lower chambers. There’s a cluster of cardiac fibers along the pathway, called the bundle of His, the "bundle branch block" or the "AV bundle" that divides into two branches, the right and left branches. The function of the bundles is to conduct the electrical impulses to the heart ventricles with each ventricle having a branch. Uncoordinated ventricular contractions can occur with damage to one of the branch bundles resulting in an abnormal heartbeat.

Although a blocked signal on the right side of the ticker is not usually serious, but a block on the left side is indicative of a higher risk of coronary artery disease, or some other heart problem.

Symptoms:

An individual with a heart block may experience shortness of breath, fainting and lightheadedness, pain or discomfort in the chest, slow or irregular heartbeats and difficulty in performing exercise because of lack of blood being pumped around the body.

Risk Factors:

Scarring of the heart tissue with age is the most common cause of heart block. Some people are born with it but older adults with a history of heart disease or smoking are most at risk. Conditions like cardiomyopathy, coronary thrombosis,  myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), endocarditis (inflammation of the valves), scar tissue in the ticker following surgery or a heart attack increase heart block risk.

Treatment:

There is no specific treatment. Most people with bundle branch block do not require any treatment as they have no symptoms. But, any underlying cause like hypertension will need treatment. Reperfusion therapy may be given to a person with left bundle branch block to restore blood flow through blocked arteries. In a patient with a history of fainting, an artificial pacemaker may be implanted under the skin. A pacemaker is a small, battery-operated device that can be set to produce an electrical impulse only when needed. The device can even sense if the ticker stops beating and produce an electrical impulse to restart it.

Hope, this piece of information proves useful for you.

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