Supraventricular Tachycardia Diagnosis (SVT, PSVT)

     A health care professional will ask questions about the patient's symptoms, medical and surgical history, lifestyle, and medications. The physical examination will focus on the heart and other organs, such as the lungs, that might explain the reason for the symptoms.
     Other tests are likely to be done to confirm the diagnosis of PSVT and to assist the health care professional in tailoring the most appropriate treatment. Most commonly, an electrocardiogram (ECG) is done and testing includes the following:

• Electrocardiogram (ECG): The ECG is a painless, quick, noninvasive test that detects the electrical activity of the heart. Through 12 electrodes, or leads, attached to the chest, arms, and legs, tracings or waves are detected and represent the electrical activity of the heart from 12 different views. This allows detection of a number of different kinds of problems in the heart. The ECG can help identify many different arrhythmias including PSVT and in some cases its underlying cause. However, further tests or even therapy may depend on the findings of the ECG. Picture of an ECG from a patient with PSVT ECG from a patient with PSVT 

Supraventricular Tachycardia Symptoms (SVT, PSVT)

     PSVT can cause a number of symptoms, depending on a person's overall health and how fast their heart is beating. People with heart damage or other coexisting medical problems experience a greater degree of discomfort and complications than those who are healthy. Some people have no symptoms at all.
     Symptoms can come on suddenly and may go away by themselves; they can last a few minutes or as long as 1-2 days. The rapid beating of the heart during PSVT can make the heart a less effective pump so that the body organs do not receive enough blood to work normally. The following symptoms are typical with a rapid pulse of 140-250 beats per minute:

• Palpitations (the sensation of the heart pounding in the chest) 
• Dizziness, light-headedness (near-faint), or fainting 
• Shortness of breath 
• Anxiety 
• Chest pain or tightness 

    In infants and very young children, symptoms are sometimes difficult to discern. However, those infants with irritability, poor feeding, sweating, poor coloration of skin, and who exhibit a pulse rate of 200-250 beats per minute may have PSVT.

Atrial Fibrillation (A Fib) Symptoms

      Symptoms of atrial fibrillation vary from person to person.

• A number of people have no symptoms.

•  The most common symptom in people with intermittent atrial fibrillation is palpitations, a sensation of rapid or irregular heartbeat.This may make some people very anxious. Many people also describe an irregular fluttering sensation in their chests. This irregular fluttering sensation is due to the irregular rapid ventricular response (rvr) of the ventricles to the rapid irregular atrial electrical activity.

•  Some people become light-headed or faint. 

     Other symptoms include weakness, lack of energy or shortness of breath with effort, and chest pain or angina.
There are a few patients that have potentially life-threating A fib symptoms that need immediate attention and intervention with electric cardioversion. The symptoms and signs are as follows:

• Decompensated congestive heart failure (CHF); shortness of breath 

• Hypotension (low blood pressure) 

• Uncontrolled chest pain (angina/ischemia)