Sport, unusual, science or even health… The list of world records is varied and sometimes improbable. A new record concerning health has just occurred, and could have had dramatic consequences.
Indeed, at the beginning of February, a 57-year-old quadriplegic man had a tachycardia at Saint-Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA). If this phenomenon does not have in itself nothing special, it is the speed reached by the beats of his heart that is a feat. The patient’s heart rate rose up to 600 beats per minute.
Heart: a beating rhythm comparable to that of a mouse
At the beginning of February, the 57-year-old man went to the hospital because of repeated discomfort and chest pain. Symptoms that initially attract little attention from doctors, because the patient is quadriplegic and has already fallen out of his wheelchair because of his discomfort. Three days later, while he is still hospitalized, his tachycardia is triggered.
The average heart rate in an adult at rest is between 60 to 80 beats per minute. During intense exercise, this frequency increases and is between 100 and 250 beats per minute. In this specific case, the 50-year-old has well above normal since he reached 600 beats per minute. This rhythm is comparable to the heartbeat of a mouse. If it is normal for the rodent, it is on the other hand not suitable for humans and can be very dangerous.
During this episode of tachycardia, the patient experiences several discomforts and complains of severe chest pain. Eventually, her heart gradually calms down and drops back down to 300 beats per minute, to then find a heart rate with normal values. Fortunately, the tachycardia did not last long and currently the patient’s vital signs are stable. In addition, no physical abnormalities are observed by the doctors and two days after the incident, he can go home.
As a reminder, the previous recorded heartbeat record was at 480 beats per minute. He had been measured in utero (in the womb), on a fetus whose mother was taking medication for cardiac arrhythmia.
Heart: what are the causes of these high beats?
Following this incident, the doctors seek to understand the cause of such high beats. If the 50-year-old is quadriplegic, no link is made with his condition. Indeed, he is ten years ago following a road accident and never had tachycardia. On the other hand, he has history of heart problems. He had already suffered a myocardial infarction. This had therefore led him to have a stent inserted in order to keep his right coronary artery open damaged by the infarction.
Medical tests are therefore carried out by the medical team in order to find out more. The team does not spot no abnormalityexcept an abnormally high level of troponin in the blood. It is a heart muscle protein that allows muscle contraction. Doctors therefore believe that there is a link between this protein and the patient’s abnormal tachycardia.