v fib

[cathy4111]

What causes V Fib after a heart attac?  Is there anyway to prevent it?

[Mom2four85]

Has his dr suggested an Pacemaker/ICD?

I had to have one implanted for vtach and vfib episodes, which converted me twice already from vtach and shocked me once out of VFib.  No MI but I did develop CM from malignant pvc's I had - and had an ablation to correct them.

[helpinboston]

Well, prevention would be not having the heart attack in the first place.  After/during a heart attack, the heart can run very low on oxygen, and tissue dies.  Within this tissue are conductive fibers (think electrical wiring) that needed to maintain a normal rhythm in order for the heart to do its job.  When enough of this tissue dies, the heart has to resort to the next most viable rhythm it can (this can either happen instantaneously or after a few hours), which is usually VT - which then degenerates down to VF (usually after a minute or so).  This is why heart attacks are so dangerous.  Whenever patients have chest pain, we always do a STAT EKG and bloodwork to tell us if the patient is having an MI (myocardial infarction = heart attack).  Once the patient develops VT/VF we can try to use electricity to convert the rhythm, or use medication.  If we catch the VT/VF early enough, the patient stands a decent chance to be revived (like within the first two minutes of VF/VT arrest).  The longer the heart goes without sufficient oxygen (VF/VT) the greater the probability of dying is.  I hope this helps.  

MH

[ireneo]

My understanding is that once a heart is damaged, the heart is more prone to v-tach and v-fib. In my Dad's case, after 4 heart attacks his heart was so damaged he developed cardiomyopathy and needed an ICD. That would zap his heart back to normal rhythm when it went out of control.

Not sure how to stop v-fib. I think v-tach can be controlled to some degree with the proper medications and a pacemaker or ICD.