?Tachycardia? is a general term for a variety of different conditions that cause the heart to beat more than 100 times per minute. There are two general forms of tachycardia that may be diagnosed.

The first type is supraventricular tachycardia ? a condition in which electrical Tachycardia: An unusually fast heartbeat (more than 100 beats per minute). It may be a sign of an arrhythmia, or it may be the result of normal factors (e.g., fever or exercise). impulses traveling through the heart are abnormal because of a cardiac problem somewhere above the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles).

Common examples of supraventricular tachycardia include atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, AV node reentry and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW).

The second type is ventricular tachycardia ? a condition in which the cardiac abnormality is somewhere in the ventricles. Examples of ventricular tachycardia include premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and ventricular fibrillation.

Conduction System: The heart has its own electric pacemaker, which regulates the heartbeat. Specialized nerves send signals to the pumping chambers, telling them to contract. The symptoms of these different tachycardias vary widely. If conditions require treatment, then medications are generally prescribed. Some conditions may require a medical procedure such as catheter ablation or the insertion of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).