Cardiologist Questions Cardiologist

Will irregular heartbeat go away?

My daughter has an irregular heartbeat. Will irregular heartbeat go away?

3 Answers

It depends on the cause of the irregular heart beat. If it has not been evaluated, she should have an EKG at least.
That is a very broad question. If she has sinus arrhythmia which is heart speeding up with breathing in and lungs expanding and heart slowing down with breathing out and lung's getting smaller , then this is normal and nothing to worry about. You should discuss this with your child's pediatrician. There are several types of irregular heart beat that are not normal and may need to be evaluated and treated
great question and a complicated one. Irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias are fairly common in children. Some of them are benign and usually do not lead to any long term problems. For example sometimes the heartbeat will become Irregular with respirations. Also the healthy active heart will occasionally skip a beat which is benign occurrence with no underlying problems. However some types of heartbeat irregularities may require some investigation. These may include an ongoing rapid heartbeat or tachycardia and sometimes a slower than normal pulse or a bradycardia. Of concern about either is whether the heartbeat is regular or irregular. For example there is one kind irregular pulse caused by a heart that has an abnormal extra channel which leads to an ongoing tachycardia. This congenital condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Once testing reveals this abnormal heart channel it can be cured by what is called ablation or erasing the abnormal channel. No matter What the diagnosis when it occurs at any age, the first step is usually to have it presented to the child's pediatrician and if necessary referred to a pediatric cardiologist. The cardiologist will take a history and do a complete cardiac exam. In addition to an EKG the specialist may order an echocardiogram to look for abnormal anatomic findings.