Irregular heartbeat a warning after heart attack

Heart attack patients who subsequently suffer from irregular heartbeat are at a threefold risk of dying, new research has shown.

Today’s study from the Duke University Medical Centre refers to patients who develop arrhythmia, fibrillation or tachycardia as a result of techniques to open blocked arteries.

The research goes against the consensus that these methods do not complicate outcomes for patients with blocked arteries.

Christopher Granger, cardiologist at the Duke Health Centre and the senior author of the study, said: “The findings suggest that we should take another look at how we’ve been assessing the importance and the impact of these episodes.

“[This study] tells us that we were wrong. Now we know that an episode of ventricular fibrillation at any point significantly affects a patient’s chance of a successful outcome.”

Research found patients with larger heart attacks and who had less blood flow to the heart muscle were more likely than others to experience arrhythmias. A majority of the episodes occurred within two days of the PCI procedure.