Is atrial flutter a serious heart condition?

Although atrial flutter is usually not life-threatening at first , it does limit how well your heart pumps blood. This can cause a clot to form in your heart. If the clot breaks loose, it could lead to a stroke. Over time, atrial flutter can weaken your heart muscle.

An arrhythmia is a disorder that affects the normal heart rate . With an arrhythmia, the heart tends to beat too slow (bradycardia), too fast (tachycardia), or irregularly. These disorders can affect the amount of blood pumped by the heart.

Atrial fibrillation, often called AFib or AF, is the most common type of treated heart arrhythmia . An arrhythmia is when the heart beats too slowly, too fast, or in an irregular way.

paroxysmal atrial fibrillation – episodes come and go, and usually stop within 48 hours without any treatment. persistent atrial fibrillation – each episode lasts for longer than 7 days (or less when it’s treated)