...An Irregularity

Webster's New Twentieth Century Dicationary defines arrhythmia as "irregularity in the rhythm of the heartbeat". I have spent a little time thinking about this seemingly simple statement. While it is true that all arrhythmias are irregularities in the cardiac rhythm, it just doesn't seem appropriate to describe all cardiac arrhythmias with such a simple phrase. Given the wide variety of the abnormal rhythms that we see in the EP Lab, it would seem that we could find better words or phrases to describe arrhythmias. Just take a moment and consider some of the ways we can describe irregular heart rhythms; annoying, irritating, uncomfortable, scary, interesting, complex, varied, mysterious, erratic and even life changing. Arrhythmias are all these things and so much more.

The study of these irregular rhythms and how to treat them has grown into one of the more complex fields of medicine.