Red Flag Raised On Offbeat Hearts

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2012) — An estimated 2.5 million Americans suffer from irregular heartbeats-also known as atrial fibrillation. Baylor Health Care System is raising awareness about this often misunderstood, but potentially life changing cardiovascular condition whose incidence is on the rise and expected to more than double by 2050.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about atrial fibrillation that I hear from patients is that if they can’t feel it, they don’t have it,” says Manish Assar, MD, a cardiac electrophysiologist on the medical staff at Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital. “But the diagnosis is made through an EKG, and if the EKG says they have atrial fibrillation, they have it.”

While many patients exhibit no symptoms, that wasn’t the case for Doug Gerber. “Over time my heartbeat had become irregular. It would race to over 150 or slow down to under 50,” he explains. “It would pound so hard that I could see it beating through my shirt.” Read more