Tachycardia

Tachycardia is the too-rapid beating of the heart. If the heart beats too rapidly it performs inefficiently and blood flow and blood pressure paradoxically are reduced.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a form of tachycardia that occurs with a change in body position (eg, going from laying down to standing up) and which is generally due to dysautonomia.

Tachycardia is a general term that is applied in a lot of different contexts. Most generally it means pathologically increased heart rate.

• Paroxysmal Tachycardia
  • Supraventricular Paroxysmal Tachycardia (SVT)
  • Ventricular Paroxysmal Tachycardia (VT)
    • sustained
    • unsustained

Tachycardia, as applied in adult medicine, is defined as a heart rate of over 100 beats per minute (BPM).

See also : Cardiac arrhythmia