Free Republic

Ablation, a procedure to treat abnormal electrical short circuits caused by a heart attack and is usually reserved for patients who do not improve with medication, may be a better first-line treatment for heart attack survivors experiencing dangerous rapid heartbeat episodes, according to late-breaking science. Ventricular tachycardia (VT), the most common cause of sudden cardiac death, is a fast heart rhythm that starts in the heart's lower chambers (ventricles). This rapid heartbeat prevents the heart's chambers from filling completely between contractions, which reduces blood flow to the rest of the body. To reduce the risk of death from VT, the...

The last moment Tyler Moon remembers clearly in the Twin Cities 10-Miler on October 6 was seeing his parents and fiancée around the first mile. After that, he just has flashes of feeling off and struggling to breathe properly, followed by waking up in the ER with cuts on his face and a heavy, painful chest. Despite never having any heart issues in the past, the 25-year-old had experienced ventricular tachycardia, an irregular heartbeat that caused reduced blood flow throughout his body. Just after the 8-mile mark, the lower chambers of his heart were getting no blood at all, so...