Heart block

Common card · No. 355524

Heart block (HB) is a disorder in the heart's rhythm due to a fault in the natural pacemaker. This is caused by an obstruction – a block – in the electrical conduction system of the heart. Sometimes this disorder is inherited. Despite the severe-sounding name, heart block may cause no symptoms at all, or mere occasional missed heartbeats and ensuing light-headedness, syncope (fainting), and palpitations. Depending upon where in the heart, exactly, conduction is impaired (and how significantly), the disorder may require the implantation of an artificial pacemaker (a medical device that provides correct electrical impulses to trigger heartbeats, compensating for the natural pacemaker's unreliability); heart block is usually treatable. Heart block should not be confused with other conditions which may or may not be co-occurring or possibly serious (and which relate to the heart and/or other nearby organs), such as angina (heart-related chest pain), heart attack (myocardial infarction), any...

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