what is it PVC mean well a PVC is a premature ventricular contraction and it’s an extra beat so again the heart upper chamber lower chamber upper chamber then if the lower chamber throws in an extra beat that’s a PVC can you see that on electrocardiogram you can yes and the activity that comes to the electrocardiogram.
The beat is coming from the muscle but it puts out electrical current that’s right that’s exactly right and you can see that as an extra spike on the electrocardiogram now that’s a premature ventricular that’s what is the ventricle that’s from the lower chamber the pumping chance the big pump right how about an atrial premature contraction right that’s when the extra beat comes from the upper chamber.
So an extra beat can be thrown in from the upper chamber or the lower chamber so how does the patient feel if they’ve got an extra beat Apiaceae premature atrial contraction or premature ventricular how does the patient feel how do they know it sometimes well oftentimes people feel like their heart skipped a beat so if they can sense their heartbeat they feel like they actually missed a beat and that afterward the heart comes back strong because it has longer to fill that’s exactly right.
So it’s pumping out more blood right there but so there’s a long pause after that extra beat where the heart really can fill soup that’s right how do you know if it’s dangerous or not dangerous well it’s a very good question and that that’s something that actually the physician helps to figure out I would say we’re more worried about dangerous ectopic heartbeats for somebody with heart disease like somebody that’s had a previous heart attack and if the episode caused the person to faint or blackout or pass out or collapse now.
How about if I occasionally feel an extra beat but when I exercise to get my heart rate going and goes away versus if I exercise I feel more of them right in the first case when you exercise if the extra beats go away or smooth out with an exercise that’s good that’s a good finding if it gets worse with exercise that can be a serious finding and if it’s worse then you have to go further on in it is the treatment of if it evens out and you don’t think it’s something you have normal do you just assure the patient yes there are medications, for example, their medications called beta-blockers that block adrenaline and so it buffers the heart from the adrenaline or epinephrine in the system but for a benign extra beat we usually do not give those medications
