Your treatment for ventricular tachycardia will depend on the type you have, your overall heart health, your age, and whether you have other medical conditions. The goal of treatment is symptom management and, ultimately, the prevention of sudden cardiac death.
- Antiarrhythmics: These medications work to help restore a normal heart rhythm.
- Beta blockers: These medications block the effects of adrenaline on the heart, which slows the heart rate and lessens the force of heart contractions.
- Calcium channel blockers: These medications block calcium channels to the heart cells, which slows the heart rate and helps manage arrhythmias.
Catheter ablation (also called radiofrequency ablation) is a minimally invasive procedure in which a thin, flexible tube called a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel and threaded to the heart. Electrodes inside the catheter allow your cardiologist to find the problem areas and destroy the abnormal tissue with radiofrequency energy.
If your heart beats too quickly due to ventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation is a procedure uses cold or heat energy to create tiny scars to restore your heart to a regular rhythm.
During this procedure, a long flexible tube called a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel, usually in the groin area. The catheter is gently guided to the heart. Sensors on the tip of the catheter send electrical signals and record the heart's electricity. Your electrophysiologist uses this information to determine the best place to apply the VT ablation treatment.
Cardiac stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a noninvasive therapy used to manage ventricular tachycardia by precisely delivering radiation to targeted tissue.
Imaging scans are used to guide the radiation, and radiation is only delivered to the target area, sparing the nearby healthy tissue.
An implantable cardioverter defibrillator is small device that is placed in your chest. An ICD detects ventricular tachycardia when it occurs and provides an electric shock to send the heart into a normal rhythm.
