Shortcuts
Supraventricular Tachycardia
What is it?
Tachycardia (pronounced tack-e-kar-dee-a) means rapid heart rate.
Abnormal tachycardias are the result of abnormal electrical activity or from electrical short circuits in the heart. Supraventricular tachycardia is the most common type.
In supraventricular tachycardia, the heart rate is sped up by an abnormal electrical impulse starting in the atria.
The heart beats so fast that the heart muscle cannot relax between beats. When the chambers don't relax, they cannot contract strongly or fill with enough blood to meet the body's needs.
Because the heart can't contract the way it should, a child's brain may not receive enough blood and oxygen. Children can feel light in the head, dizzy, or feel like their heart is racing or pounding.
How is it treated?
Supraventricular tachycardia is treated through medicine and radiofrequency ablation, a procedure that uses catheters to destroy the tissue that causes the rapid heartbeat.