Mayo Clinic electrophysiologist Fred Kusumoto, M.D., describes what happens in the heart to build atrial fibrillation and what can be performed to repair it.

MODERATOR: This is a typical heartbeat. [Coronary heart BEATING] Atrial fibrillation interrupts this common defeat.

FRED KUSUMOTO, M.D.: “In atrial fibrillation, in its place of the atria squeezing in a typical common vogue, the atria defeat irregularly and chaotically.”

MODERATOR: Dr. Fred Kusumoto is an electrophysiologist at Mayo Clinic.

FRED KUSUMOTO, M.D.: “In some conditions folks really feel their heart palpitating or beating very, very rapid or a flip-flop in their heart or upper body region. Other situations, folks just discover that they’re much more brief of breath when they walk upstairs.”

MODERATOR: Dr. Kusumoto says atrial fibrillation decreases the heart’s blood pumping performance and places a individual at greater possibility for blood clots, heart failure, and stroke. In some conditions, atrial fibrillation can be corrected with treatment or by administering a shock to a sedated patient’s heart. In other occasions, a procedure referred to as catheter ablation could be employed to scar tissue that is developing the erratic signals–[Coronary heart BEATING]– in the hopes of having again to that typical defeat.