What is sinus bradycardia. Symptoms, treatment, prevention

Causes, symptoms, treatment of bradycardia. What is sinus bradycardia

Bradycardia is the frequency of heart contractions less than 60 beats per minute. Causes, signs, treatment of bradycardia in adolescents and adults, preventive measures - these and other issues are within the competence of a cardiologist.

Varieties

Depending on the localization, there is sinus bradycardia or such as is observed with heart blocks.

What is sinus bradycardia? It is provoked by a violation of the production of bioelectric impulses in the sinus node.

Heart blocks that may cause bradycardia:

sinoatrial – it is characterized by a failure of conduction of bioelectrical impulses from the sinus node to the atria;
atrioventricular – in this case, their conduction between the atria and ventricles is disturbed.

Blocks that cause bradycardia occur regularly in the practice of a cardiologist.

Bradycardia is also distinguished:

physiological - it is observed in trained endurance athletes, as well as in ordinary people in a state of rest;
pathological - this type of bradycardia occurs with various nosologies.

Pathological bradycardia can be acute or chronic.

The acute form develops against the background of serious pathologies. In this case, the question of which pills are prescribed for symptoms of bradycardia is inappropriate, because these critical pathologies should be eliminated. These can be:

myocardial infarction;
various types of myocarditis;
intoxication - poisoning with biological and synthetic poisons.

A demonstrative example of chronic bradycardia is involutive or age-related sclerotic changes in heart tissues.

Also, depending on the causes of development, the following forms of bradycardia are distinguished:

extracardial;
organic - it occurs with various impressions of heart structures;
medical (medicines for bradycardia should be selected carefully);
toxic – caused by various poisonous substances (organic or synthetic);
sinus bradycardia of athletes.

The classification of bradycardia according to the etiological factor is practiced - it occurs:

toxic;
central;
degenerative – caused by "degeneration" of tissues;
idiopathic - its causes have not been established.

Reasons

The causes of bradycardia in children and adults can be:

neurocirculatory dystonia (the old name is vegetative-vascular dystonia);
neuroses;
banal external pressure on the carotid sinus (if a person wears tight collars or ties);
increased intracranial pressure;
ulcer process in the stomach or duodenum;
hypothyroidism – lack of thyroid hormones;
some congenital pathologies. Their careful analysis is necessary before treating bradycardia in a child.

The organic form of pathology can be preceded by:

myocardial infarction;
myocardiodystrophies - a violation of the nutrition of the heart muscle;
myocarditis – its inflammation.

The medical form of bradycardia can be provoked by:

cardiac glycosides, which are used in some heart diseases;

quinidine;

morphine;

β-blockers;

sympatholytics;

blockers of calcium channels.

The last three drugs are antihypertensive, so the doctor is faced with the task of how to increase the pressure in bradycardia so as not to provoke a hypertensive crisis.

Toxic bradycardia develops with the following pathologies:

sepsis is a generalized infectious impression of the body;
hepatitis;
uremia – an increased amount of nitrogenous compounds in the blood;
typhoid;
poisoning with substances containing phosphorus.

The cause of sportsmen's bradycardia is a special type of autonomic regulation of the heart rate in people experiencing increased physical exertion.

Symptoms

If the bradycardia is insignificant, the blood flow is not disturbed, the clinic does not develop. What is dangerous fetal bradycardia? Due to the fact that there is no clinic as such, it is difficult to control the pathology.

Symptoms appear with bradycardia with a heart rate of less than 40 beats per minute. It:

feeling of unexplained fatigue;
difficulty breathing;
chest pains;
"jumps" of blood pressure;
disorders of attention and memorization;
impaired vision;
manifestations of confused thinking.

The less frequently the myocardium contracts, the worse the blood circulation, the less oxygen enters the tissues. The brain reacts most acutely to such failures - the manifestations will be:

loss of consciousness;
convulsions;
with prolonged bradycardia - a violation of the respiratory brain centers, which threatens to stop respiratory activity.

Read more about the causes of bradycardia in children, as well as its symptoms, on our website https://dobrobut.com/.

Diagnostics. Pronounced bradycardia on ECG in adults

If bradycardia is not manifested by any symptoms, it becomes an incidental diagnostic finding during examination for another nosology. Defined:

fluid pulse (its rhythm may remain correct at the same time);
heart tones are normal;
in some cases – respiratory arrhythmia.

In order to find out the causes of bradycardia, instrumental examination methods are used - first of all:

ECG;
daily Holter monitoring (it allows you to detect pronounced bradycardia on the ECG in adults at night);
Ultrasound of the heart;
echocardiography (EchoCG);
load cycling ergometry;
electrophysiological study of the conducting paths of the heart through the esophagus (ChSEFD).

If no cardiac abnormalities are detected, the organs and systems whose malfunctions can lead to the development of bradycardia are examined. These are the following methods:

Ultrasound of internal organs;
electroencephalography;
fibrogastroduodenoscopy.

Treatment

What to do with moderate bradycardia? If there are no clinical manifestations, treatment is not required.

If such forms of pathology as extracardiac, organic and toxic have developed, it is necessary to eliminate the disease, which led to a decrease in heart rate.

In the case of the development of the Morganhi-Adams-Stokes syndrome (sudden fainting due to a decrease in cardiac output with bradycardia), the issue of implantation of an electric pacemaker is decided. This is a small device that produces electrical impulses with a physiological frequency.

For bradycardia, you can take drugs prescribed by a specialist.