Atrial Fibrillation

What is Atrial Fibrillation? The heart is a muscle divided into four chambers: two atria at the top, and two ventricles at the bottom. Electrical impulses from the sino-atrial node in the right atrium cause the sequential contraction of atria then ventricles in order to squeeze blood through the heart and out to the body. This is known as sinus rhythm. In Atrial Fibrillation (AF), faulty signals are generated from other areas in the heart, causing rapid, inefficient 'quivering' contractions of the atria at a rate of 300-600 beats per minute. These fibrillating contractions do not cause the ventricles to contract at the same rate, but the ventricles do pick up on more impulses than normal, causing an increased rate of contraction in order to try to pump blood to the body. This leads to a high heart rate