What Causes Atrial Fibrillation with RVR?

Atrial fibrillation with RVR is a hereditary disease that can be passed from parents to the children. That may indicate that even though adults are healthy and practicing a healthy lifestyle, Atrial fibrillation with RVR can occur in normal hearts due to heredity. Several cardiac causes of Atrial fibrillation with RVR include congested heart failure, acute myocardial infarction – commonly referred to as heart attack, hypertrophy – where muscles of the heart are thickened without obvious or apparent cause, high blood pressure, sick sinoatrial node (the sinoartial node is the generator of the normal sinus rhythm and is located in the hearts right atrium). Coronary artery disease (CAD) also known as atherosclerotic heart disease is another cause for Atrial fibrillation with RVR, whereby degenerative accumulations of lipid containing plaques form on the inmost layer of the coronary artery and block the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the myocardium – heart muscle. Mitral Stenosis is another cardiac condition that can cause the disease Atrial fibrillation with RVR.  This valvular heart disease causes the narrowing of the mitral valve, which is dual flap valve that lies between the left ventricle and left atrium. This valve works by relieving the pressure from the left atrium as it fills with blood by and emptying the blood into the left ventricle during diastole.

When this valve narrows, there is inadequate emptying of the left atrium into the left ventricle leading to fibrillations. Another cardiac condition that can lead to Atrial fibrillation with RVR is Mitral insufficiency also known as mitral regurgitation (MR), a disorder where the mitral valve does not close properly when blood is pushed out of the left atrium.

This causes a back flow of blood to the atrium when the left ventricle contracts, (regurgitation) the phenomena by which the disease gets its name. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease of the heart muscle that also results in Atrial fibrillation with RVR where the heart walls are thickened without good cause.  The contractile elements that form the heart muscle increase in size, resulting in the misalignment of muscle cells, a situation termed asmyocardial disarray. This misalignment leads to disruptions of electrical impulses in the heart muscles and evidently Atrial fibrillation with RVR.  Another cause for this disease may be pericarditis – an inflammation of the pericardium, the conical sac made of fibrous tissue that surrounds the heart and roots of the blood vessels, valvular diseases, which are any disease processes involving one or more valves of the heart and hyperthyroidism, a condition also referred to as an ‘overactive thyroid’ where the thyroid excretes excess thyroid hormones or thyroxin.

Lung diseases - such as pneumonia, pulmonary embolism- a blockage of the main artery in the lungs and sarcoidiosis- where abnormal growths or nodules appear in the lungs and other organs also cause this disease among a portion of the patients.

The abuse of alcohol is among one of the major lifestyle causes for Atrial fibrillation with RVR.  Results from a study on binge drinking and its effects on the heart revealed that women who consumed at least two drinks per day had a 60percent chance of developing Atrial fibrillation with RVR.  

See the below video to get better idea on the causes: