Ventricular Fibrillation - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Ventricular fibrillation is a cause of cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death. The ventricular muscle twitches randomly rather than contracting in a coordinated fashion (from the apex of the heart to the outflow of the ventricles), and so the ventricles fail to pump blood into the arteries and systemic circulation. Ventricular fibrillation is a sudden lethal arrhythmia responsible for many deaths in the Western world, and it is mostly caused by ischemic heart disease. While most episodes occur in diseased hearts, others can afflict normal hearts as well.

Despite considerable research, the underlying nature of ventricular fibrillation is still not completely understood.

Read more about this topic:  Ventricular Fibrillation

Famous quotes containing the words signs and/or symptoms:

    [Christianity] endeavors equally to establish these two things: that God has set up in the Church visible signs to make himself known to those who should seek him sincerely, and that he has nevertheless so disguised them that he will only be perceived by those who seek him with all their heart.
    Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)

    Not being a K.N. [Know-Nothing] I am left as a sort of waif on the political sea with symptoms of a mild sort towards Black Republicanism.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)