While catheter ablation is currently a common treatment approach, there have been advances in stereotactic radioablation for certain arrythmias. This technique is commonly used for solid tumors and has been applied with success in management of difficult to treat Ventricular Tachycardia and Atrial Fibrillation.The most challenging cases involve palpitations that are secondary to supraventricular or ventricular ectopy or associated with normal sinus rhythm. These conditions are thought to be benign, and the management involves reassurance of the patient that these arrhythmias are not life-threatening. In these situations when the symptoms are unbearable or incapacitating, treatment with beta-blocking medications could be considered, and may provide a protective effect for otherwise healthy individuals.People who present to the emergency department who are asymptomatic, with unremarkable physical exams, have non-diagnostic EKGs and normal laboratory studies, can safely be sent home and instructed to follow up with their primary care provider or cardiologist. Patients whose palpitations are associated with syncope, uncontrolled arrhythmias, hemodynamic compromise, or angina should be admitted for further evaluation.Palpitation that is caused by heart muscle defects will require specialist examination and assessment. Palpitation that is caused by vagus nerve stimulation rarely involves physical defects of the heart. Such palpitations are extra-cardiac in nature, that is, palpitation originating from outside the heart itself. Accordingly, vagus nerve induced palpitation is not evidence of an unhealthy heart muscle.Treatment of vagus nerve induced palpitation will need to address the cause of irritation to the vagus nerve or the parasympathetic nervous system generally.
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), also termed bacterial overgrowth, or small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome (SBBOS), is a disorder of excessive bacterial growth in the small intestine. Unlike the colon (or large bowel), which is rich with bacteria, the small bowel usually has fewer than 100,000 organisms per millilitre. Patients with bacterial overgrowth typically develop symptoms which may include nausea, bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, malnutrition, weight loss and malabsorption, which is caused by a number of mechanisms. The diagnosis of bacterial overgrowth is made by a number of techniques, with the gold standard being an aspirate from the jejunum that grows in excess of 105 bacteria per millilitre. Risk factors for the development of bacterial overgrowth include dysmotility; anatomical disturbances in the bowel, including fistulae, diverticula and blind loops created after surgery, and resection of the ileo-cecal valve; gastroenteritis-induced alterations to the small intestine; and the use of certain medications, including proton pump inhibitors. Small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome is treated with an elemental diet or antibiotics, which may be given in a cyclic fashion to prevent tolerance to the antibiotics, sometimes followed by prokinetic drugs to prevent recurrence if dysmotility is a suspected cause. Definition
SIBO may be defined as an increased number of bacteria measured via exhaled hydrogen and/or methane gas following the ingestion of glucose, or via analysis of small bowel aspirate fluid.