What is the difference between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation

What is ventricular tachycardia?

Ventricular tachycardia (VT or V-tach) is a type of abnormal heart rhythm, or arrhythmia. It occurs when the lower chamber of the heart beats too fast to pump well and the body doesn't receive enough oxygenated blood.

A normal heartbeat begins with an electrical impulse from the sinus node, a small area in the heart's right atrium (right upper chamber). Ventricular tachycardia begins in the lower chambers (ventricles) and is quite fast. When it lasts only a few seconds, ventricular tachycardia may cause no problems. But when sustained, ventricular tachycardia can lower the blood pressure, resulting in syncope (fainting) or lightheadedness. Ventricular tachycardia can also lead to ventricular fibrillation (a life-threatening arrhythmia) and cardiac arrest.

What causes ventricular tachycardia?

Structural Heart Disease

Ventricular tachycardia most often occurs when the heart muscle has been damaged and scar tissue creates abnormal electrical pathways in the ventricles. Causes include:

• Heart attack

• Cardiomyopathy or heart failure

• Myocarditis

• Heart valve disease

Idiopathic Ventricular Tachycardia

Sometimes, people with no known heart disease can develop ventricular tachycardia, often due to an irritable focus — when cells outside the sinus node start generating an electrical impulse automatically on their own. This form of ventricular tachycardia is easier to address and is usually not life threatening.

Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia (CPVT)

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a genetic condition that can cause a fast abnormal heart beat from the ventricles. CPVT may cause a loss of consciousness or sudden death due to the lack of blood pumped to the body. This inherited disease is common in individuals who have a family history of syncope, also known as fainting.

What are the symptoms of ventricular tachycardia?

When ventricular tachycardia lasts a short time, there may be no symptoms except palpitations — a fluttering in the chest. But ventricular tachycardia lasting more than 30 seconds may cause more severe symptoms:

• Chest pain

• Dizziness

• Fainting (syncope)

• Shortness of breath

• Cardiac arrest

How is ventricular tachycardia treated?

• Radiofrequency ablation: a minimally invasive procedure to destroy the cells that cause ventricular tachycardia; less effective when there is structural heart disease

• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD): an implanted device that delivers an electrical pulse to the heart to reset a dangerously irregular heartbeat

• Medication: A number of antiarrhythmic medications are used to prevent ventricular tachycardia. These include:

  • Sotolol

  • Flecainide

  • Propafenone

  • Amiodarone

Learn more about arrhythmias or visit the Johns Hopkins Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Service.

The human body is made up of numerous tissues, organs, trillions and millions of cells, and many other components. Different organs of the body perform different functions and help in its proper functioning.

Table of Contents

• Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) vs Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)
• Comparison Table Between Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) and Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)
• What is Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach)?
• What is Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)?
• Main Differences Between Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) and Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)
• Conclusion
• References

The human body is made up of numerous tissues, organs, trillions and millions of cells, and many other components. Different organs of the body perform different functions and help in its proper functioning.

The brain controls the overall activity of the body, the nervous system controls all the sensory activity of the body, heart helps in the pumping of the pureblood and transferring it into every part. Any kind of dysfunction or disorder results in the improper functioning of the body part.

The main difference between Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) and Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib) is that Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) helps in regulating the heartbeat of the body, but despite this, the heartbeat grows so fast that it is not able to fill the blood. Whereas comparatively, on the other hand, Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib) is related to not only the irregular functioning of the heart that results in cardiac arrest.

Ventricular Tachycardia is also known as the short-term V-tach or VT. It is a heart disorder that is related to the irregular beating of the heart, also known as ‘arrhythmia’.

The ventricle of the heart receives irregular heart impulses, which result in the irregular heartbeat of the body. Eventually, the heart beats at a normal pace of 60 to 100 times in 1 minute, but because of the disorder, the human heart starts beating at a pace of 100 times and more in a minute, and due to this, the ventricles is not able to fill the chamber with blood.   

Ventricular Fibrillation is also known as the convenient short term (V-fib). It is also one of the heart disorders related to the irregular beating of the heart.

In medical terms, this disorder of irregular heartbeat is known as ‘arrhythmia’. In this disorder, the lower chambers of the heart (or the ventricles) beats unnecessarily, resulting in the improper pumping of blood to other parts of the body.

Comparison Table Between Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) and Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)

What is Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach)?

Ventricular Tachycardia is a heart condition in which the heart of the individual beats abnormally. And this abnormality of the heart leads the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles) not to fill the blood in their respective chambers.

In medical terms, the irregular beating of the heart is known as ‘arrhythmia’ or ‘dysrhythmia’. A healthy human heart will beat around 60 to 100 times within a minute or, on average, 72 times.

But in this condition, the capacity of the heartbeat grows up to 100 times to more than it. Thus, the irregularity or the chaos leads to an insufficient supply of blood to other body parts.

Some of the major symptoms of the disorder are – the uneven increase in stress level, anxiety, faintness, flopping chest pain, palpitations, etc. The disorder is not normally diagnosed because even in the ECG, the QRS Complex seems to be normal.

Although there are other methods of diagnosis and they are MRI and Transoesophageal echocardiography. 

What is Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)?

Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib) is a heart condition in which the heart receives abnormal signals leading to the abnormal behaviour of the lower chamber of the heart. The lower chambers or the ventricles beat unnecessarily, and this activity results in the insufficient pumping of the blood to different other body parts.

This condition requires immediate attention because it is one of the reasons for major cardiac arrests suffered by individuals. The common symptoms shown by the body for the disorder are – fainting, low blood pressure, nausea, chest pain, and many others.

The condition requires immediate first aid or treatment by the Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) technique. The other treatment for the condition is the AED – Automated External Defibrillator and Arrhythmia medications.

Main Differences Between Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) and Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)

1. Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) is the disorder in which the heartbeat of the individual is abnormal but occurs at regular intervals, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib) is the disorder in which the heartbeat of the individual is abnormal with abnormality in the interval.
2. Some of the symptoms of Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) are – stress, anxiety, palpitations, flopping in the chest, fainting, and many others, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, some of the symptoms of Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib) are – fainting, low blood pressure, nausea, chest pain, and many others.
3. The QRS complex of the Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) appears to be normal or regular, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the QRS complex of the Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib) appears to be irregular or not visible.
4. Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) can be treated by cardioversion, anti-arrhythmic drugs, and many other medications and processes, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib) can be treated by CPR, AED, arrhythmia medications, and many other medications and processes.
5. The frequency of the cardiac arrest suffered by the individual is 7%, whereas comparatively, the frequency of the cardiac arrest suffered by the individual is 10%.
6. In the condition Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach), the heart beats around 200 times within a minute, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, during the condition of Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib), the heartbeats around 300-350 times within a minute.
7. The Ventricular Tachycardia (V-tach) condition can be diagnosed by ECG, MRI, and transoesophageal echocardiography, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib) condition can be diagnosed by ECG, Blood tests, MRI, CT scan, Chest X-ray, Angiogram, and Echocardiogram.
8. The Ventricular Tachycardia is narrow and complex, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, Ventricular Fibrillation cannot be distinguished any further. 

Conclusion

The increasing pace of life has made the human body restless. This is all because of the increase in the level of stress, anxiety, work pressure, overthinking, and many more others.

People wish that their body must give better and quick output despite not providing proper and nutritional input. A healthy lifestyle, food, peaceful mind is the key to proper functioning or, say, the secret of a healthy body.

Taking a balanced and nutritional diet on a regular basis leads to less stress on the heart. With healthy food intake, the body detoxifies itself and flushes out all the toxic products out of the body.

And after this, the body starts rejuvenating all the good bacteria in the body and makes it more active and healthier.

References

1. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/754554
2. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/376752
3. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7897292
4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0002870383905148

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