Spring Festival is the most important reunion festival for Chinese, which means reunion, celebration and prospect. However, the Chinese New Year period is also a time of high incidence of cardiovascular disease. As they celebrate the festive season, middle-aged and elderly people need to pay extra attention to a range of heart health issues. Among them, atrial fibrillation is especially common! Professor Liu Xu of Shanghai Chest Hospital reminded everyone that many middle-aged and elderly people come to the hospital because of heart problems during the Spring Festival every year, and the trigger behind this is likely to be atrial fibrillation!
What exactly is atrial fibrillation?
Atrial fibrillation, as a common arrhythmia, is usually characterized by rapid and disorderly contraction of the atrium, which no longer relaxes and contracts according to the normal rhythm. This phenomenon affects the heart's efficient delivery of blood, causing blood to become trapped in the atria and possibly form blood clots. If a blood clot travels through the bloodstream to other organs, such as the brain, it can lead to serious complications such as stroke.
The mechanism of atrial fibrillation can be likened to a city's transportation system. A normal heart is like an efficient city, the atria are like the bus dispatch center, and the ventricles are equivalent to the various areas of the city. Under normal circumstances, the bus dispatch center (atrium) sends the bus (blood) to various areas of the city (ventricles) in an orderly manner, ensuring the normal operation of the city (body). However, if the bus dispatch center is in chaos (atrial fibrillation), bus departures will become disorderly and frequent, which causes many buses (blood) to accumulate (form blood clots) in the dispatch center. If some buses (blood clots) rush out of the center and into the highway (blood vessels) due to the chaos, they may have a car accident (stroke or pulmonary embolism) on the way to other urban areas (organs), which can cause great harm to the city (body). Therefore, an efficient city (healthy heart) can cause the entire city's transportation system (blood circulation system) to be disrupted due to the chaos of the bus dispatch center (atrial fibrillation), and even serious consequences may occur.
During the Spring Festival, extra attention is required for atrial fibrillation.
During the Spring Festival, changes in various factors such as diet, mood, and activity habits will increase the occurrence and onset of atrial fibrillation.
On the one hand, dietary changes, including a significant increase in the intake of high-salt, high-sugar, and high-fat foods, and an increase in alcohol intake, increase the burden on the heart, which may lead to fluctuations in the status of otherwise stable atrial fibrillation patients and increase the risk of atrial fibrillation attacks.
On the other hand, mood swings are also the cause of atrial fibrillation, Spring Festival party celebrations, increased socialization, staying up late, playing mahjong and other entertainment activities cause emotional agitation and excessive fatigue, which may lead to arrhythmia and induce atrial fibrillation.
At the same time, during the Spring Festival, it is in a cold winter, and the sudden cold temperature will cause blood pressure to rise, the heart will increase, and it may also aggravate the symptoms and conditions of atrial fibrillation.
All in all, the combination of dietary changes, mood adjustments, lifestyle changes, and climatic factors during the Spring Festival all contribute to the increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Therefore, during the Spring Festival, it is especially necessary to pay attention to the prevention and control of atrial fibrillation, try to avoid or reduce the above risk factors, maintain a regular work and rest, maintain a reasonable diet, moderate exercise, and seek medical attention in time when necessary.
Are these discomforts atrial fibrillation?
If your heart discomfort is accompanied by the following symptoms, there is a good chance that it is atrial fibrillation!
1. Tachycardia: The most common symptom is that the heart beats fast or there is a feeling of skipping or missing.
2. Chest discomfort: there may be chest tightness, compression or pain.
3. Nausea or syncope: In severe atrial fibrillation, nausea, dizziness or fulminant syncope may occur.
4. Difficulty breathing: It may be difficult to inhale, especially during physical activity.
5. Decreased physical strength: feeling weak and fatigue quickly.
6. Swelling: There may be swelling of the ankles or feet.
Others may not have any of these symptoms but also have atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation can be detected during a random ECG or other medical condition. If you feel any discomfort in your heart, please seek medical attention as soon as possible, as a timely diagnosis is especially important for atrial fibrillation**!
Atrial fibrillation is harmful, don't delay**!
Atrial fibrillation can cause a lot of harm, especially if not carried out in a timely manner**, which can lead to more serious health problems. The following are some of the more representative hazards:
1. Stroke. Studies have shown that people with atrial fibrillation have a 4-5 times higher risk of stroke than the normal population.
2. Heart failure. Atrial fibrillation can cause the heart to not pump blood efficiently to the rest of the body, which can lead to heart failure, leading to symptoms such as difficulty breathing, swelling (especially in the legs), fatigue, and more.
3. Heart damage. If it lasts too long, atrial fibrillation can cause damage to the heart muscle, affecting the function of the heart.
4. Life expectancy is reduced. Prolonged atrial fibrillation may increase mortality, especially when atrial fibrillation is combined with some other conditions.
5. Other complications. People with atrial fibrillation may also experience problems such as anxiety, depression, and decreased quality of life. For example, patients with atrial fibrillation often experience symptoms such as dizziness and palpitations, which will seriously affect the quality of daily life of patients.
Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation is an effective treatment for atrial fibrillation.
At present, there are two main methods of atrial fibrillation, one is medication, and the other is catheter ablation: this is a minimally invasive surgery that does not leave anything in the heart, and its principle is to use a catheter with a diameter of 2 mm to reach the heart along the blood vessels to eliminate the ectopic excitatory foci of the heart. Long-term use of anti-arrhythmic drugs can lead to a number of factors, including affecting kidney and liver function. Catheter ablation reduces medication*** and many studies have shown that catheter ablation is more effective than medications** in reducing the risk of stroke and heart failure due to atrial fibrillation, helping to improve patients' quality of life in the long term and allow patients to return to normal life more quickly.
The "Thoracic Procedure for Pulmonary Vein Isolation and Trochanter Ablation" and the "Atrial Fibrillation Rotorcular-Thoracic Mapping Methodology" refined by Liu Xu's team from the Chest Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University have made China's atrial fibrillation catheter ablation surgery level reach the international first-class standard. At present, the cardiology team has also been engaged in the exploration of innovative technologies and concepts, and has proposed the method of replacing esophageal ultrasound with endoluminal ultrasound for the first time in the world, and has taken the lead in carrying out zero-ray ablation surgery for atrial fibrillation in Shanghai.
Finally, I sincerely wish everyone to have no "worries" and a "calm" heart during the festive season, and enjoy a happy and healthy Spring Festival!
Xu Liu, Chief Physician, Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor. Shanghai Excellent Discipline Leader; Shanghai Leading Talents; Outstanding Medical Worker in Shanghai (2012-2014); * Recipients of special allowances; Excellent doctoral supervisor of Shanghai Jiaotong University; Shanghai Silver Snake Award nomination; Founder of Rotor Club in China. He is currently the director of the Atrial Fibrillation Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Since 1998, he has taken the lead in carrying out basic and clinical research on transcatheter radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation in China, and has completed more than 50,000 cases of various arrhythmia interventional surgeries and nearly 30,000 cases of atrial fibrillation catheter ablation surgeries.
Xinmin.com publishes this article for the purpose of transmitting health information, and does not represent the views of this website.