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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffVentricular fibrillation is a heart rhythm problem that occurs when the heart beats with rapid, erratic electrical impulses. This causes pumping chambers in your heart (the ventricles) to quiver uselessly, instead of pumping blood. During ventricular fibrillation, your blood pressure plummets, cutting off blood supply to your vital organs. Ventricular fibrillation is frequently triggered by a heart attack.
Ventricular fibrillation is an emergency that requires immediate medical attention. A person with ventricular fibrillation will collapse within seconds and soon won't be breathing or have a pulse. Emergency treatment for ventricular fibrillation includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and shocks to the heart with a device called a defibrillator.
Treatments for those at risk of ventricular fibrillation include medications and implantable devices that can restore a normal heart rhythm.
- Ventricular fibrillation. American Heart Association. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Arrhythmia/AboutArrhythmia/Ventricular-Fibrillation_UCM_324063_Article.jsp. Accessed Aug. 17, 2011.
- Olgin JE, et al. Specific arrhythmias: Diagnosis and treatment. In: Bonow RO, et al. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2011. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4377-0398-6..C2009-0-59734-6--TOP&isbn=978-1-4377-0398-6&about=true&uniqId=236798031-10. Accessed Aug. 17, 2011.
- ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 guidelines for management of patients with ventricular arrhythmias: A prevention of sudden cardiac death — Executive summary. Circulation. 2006;117:e350.
- Srivathsan K, et al. Ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Expert Reviews in Cardiovascular Therapy. 2009;7:801.
- Automated external defibrillator. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/aed/aed_all.html. Accessed Aug. 18, 2011.
- Field JM, et al. Part 1: Executive summary - 2010 American Heart Association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care. Circulation. 2010;122(suppl):S640.
- How the heart works. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw_all.html. Accessed Aug. 17, 2011.
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