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Complications of Supraventricular Tachycardia

When supraventricular tachycardia occurs in someone with significant coronary artery disease, the heart may not receive enough blood to keep up with the demands of the increased heart rate. If this occurs, the heart may not get enough oxygen (ischemia), potentially causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction).

Supraventricular tachycardia may result in heart failure, especially in people with diseases of the heart valves (particularly aortic stenosis or mitral stenosis) or with a weakened heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). And if supraventricular tachycardia persists for a long period of time, it may cause a normal heart to weaken and heart failure to develop (known as a tachycardia-mediated cardiomyopathy), although it is often reversible if the supraventricular tachycardia is corrected.

By Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer John M. Miller, MD - Electrophysiology
Last Revised August 9, 2010

Last Revised: August 9, 2010

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & John M. Miller, MD - Electrophysiology

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