ectopic beats (skipped/missed heart beats)
Ectopic beats are an extremely common heart rhythm disturbance and is probably the most frequent cause of palpitations we see.
They can arise from either the top chamber or bottom chamber of the heart. When they come from the top chamber of the heart, they are called atrial ectopics (AEs) but can also be referred to as atrial extrasystoles or atrial premature beats (APBs). When they come from the bottom chamber of the heart, they are called ventricular ectopics, also known as ventricular extrasystoles (VEs) and ventricular premature beats (VPCs).
The most common way that people describe to me their symptoms is it feels like their heart skips or misses a beat or they have very forceful pounding heart. Other people, however, have quite subtle symptoms such as fatigue or lack of effort and some have no symptoms at all. They can occur as single beats and also follow patterns such as every 2 or 3 beats.
Most people with ectopic beats are well and rarely do they lead to anything other than palpitations. However, some can have a large number of ectopic beats consistently throughout the day and night and this can cause the heart to fatigue and become weaker as a result. Those who have a lot of atrial ectopics have been shown to have an increased risk of developing AF.
I have a specialist interest in ectopic beats and did 3 years of research into developing a new system to predict the location of the extra beats in people who require catheter ablation for ectopics. I wrote my post-doctoral thesis on this subject and also worked and studied at UCLA cardiac arrhythmia center in the US - a world renowned centre of excellence to study this in more depth and to learn different techniques to treat them. I became passionate about this area of cardiology because I saw that the current techniques were limited and were only performed well by few cardiologists and wanted to improve the success of these procedures to benefit more patients.
If you are concerned about palpitations or symptoms you have been experiencing, please contact us and we can discuss options for you - to help give you peace of mind.