Skip to main content

How Sleep Apnea Affects AFib

Today we're gonna be talking about sleep apnea and how sleep apnea can affect a person's atrial fibrillation. So first of all what is sleep apnea? Sleep apnea is a sleep related disease where people basically stop breathing while they're sleeping. And during those periods which can last anywhere from just a few seconds to 15, 30 seconds, patient's oxygen levels also go down there in that period when they stop breathing. And people who have sleep apnea, they can actually stop breathing many times throughout the night.

15, 20, 50 times. It can happen many times where a patient stopped breathing overnight. Sleep apnea is usually diagnosed with a sleep study. Usually we'll go to a facility, have your sleeping monitor with a monitor to your sleeping... Your breathing pattern and also your oxygen levels to see if you have sleep apnea. So what is the association between sleep apnea and AFib? So there have been studies that have looked at this association and it's been shown that people who have sleep apnea are two to four fold more likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. So there is certainly an association between the two. And anybody who's been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, undergoing evaluation for sleep apnea with a sleep study is certainly a very important screening tool for anybody who is diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

Now, we know that there's an association between the two but does treating sleep apnea also help improve a person's AFib? And the answer to that is yes. There have been studies that have shown that managing sleep apnea can also help improve a person's AFib. There have been studies that have shown that managing sleep apnea using what's called CPAP. Where they put a heavy oxygen mask while a patient is breathing to help facilitate their breathing can improve a person's AFib by about 42% with a significant reduction of a model of person's AFib when the sleep apnea is being properly treated.

In addition, patients who have sleep apnea but are being properly treated with the CPAP machine have higher success rates with procedures such as cardioversions or ablations and are like more likely to have better success when their sleep apnea is properly treated. So there's certainly an association between the two but properly treating sleep apnea with the CPAP machine can make significant improvements for a person's atrial fibrillation.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A-FIB VERSUS JUNCTIONAL RHYTHMS

. ATRIAL FIBRILLATION: On your rhythm strip, the two most important characteristics are: . 1) A rhythm that’s IRREGULARLY irregular (meaning there’s no way to predict the next beat) 2) No discernible P waves . In fact, if you notice an irregularly irregular rhythm and you’re having to convince yourself that you see P waves... it’s probably A-fib (multifocal atrial arrhythmias like WAP/MAT could fit the differential) . *In my opinion: Don’t get caught up in using fibrillation waves as an absolute criteria. Very fine A-fib can sometimes produce a near isoelectric line between beats. . JUNCTIONAL RHYTHMS: The pacemaker cells surrounding the AV junction are capable of initiating regular impulses but at a slightly slower natural rate than their sinus and atrial superiors. The heart is built this way so that when the pacemaker cells with the fastest intrinsic rates are in action, those below are suppressed and function primarily to pass along the impulse from above. . For these reasons, we s...
1 comment
Read more

The Pathway of Blood

Here’s a great illustration on the pathway of blood flow through the heart. It may seem easy...but you should know this cold as well as the cardiac anatomy, both of which will make procedures and understanding hemodynamics easier. . . . đŸ’™VENOUS BLOOD- Blood flows into the heart (into the right atrium) through two major veins (the superior and inferior vena cava) as well as from the coronary sinus (cardiac venous blood from the coronaries) and then out through the first AV valve (tricuspid valve) into the right ventricle. From there blood flows into the right ventricular outflow tract, across the first semilunar valve (pulmonic valve) and into the main and then left and right pulmonary arteries. Blood then enters the lungs to become oxygenated. . . . ❤️ARTERIAL BLOOD- now that blood is oxygenated flow goes from the lungs into the left atrium through 4 veins (usually) called the pulmonary veins. From the left atrium blood flows across the other AV valve (mitral valve) and into the left ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Stop Ectopic Beats

What is Ectopic Beats? According to Dr. Boon Lim - Ectopic beats are also known as Ectopic Heart Rhythm or cardiac ectopy. It is produced when the heart creates a premature beat, usually followed by a brief pause. Types of Ectopic Beats: 1. Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC) 2. Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC) Causes Of Ectopic Beats There are different causes of Ectopic Beats. Some of these are  Excessive alcohol consumption Excessive caffine consumptionPrescription drugs Stress (which produces high adrenaline levels) Exercise Diarrhoea and vomitting, which may disturb electrolyte levels (typically low potassium levels) Heart muscle damage from a heart attack Heart enlargement (cardiomyopathy) Valvular heart disease, such as a floppy mitral valve (mitral valve prolapse) Symptoms of Ectopic Beats Following Can Be The Symptom of Ectopic Beats: your heart is fluttering you are hyper aware of your heartbeat you feel faint or ...
Post a Comment
Read more