What is atrial flutter?

What is atrial flutter?

Atrial flutter is a type of supraventricular arrhythmia, which means it’s an abnormal heart rhythm that starts in the upper chambers of your heart. In this case, your heart is beating too fast. Atrial flutter can make your heart’s upper chambers beat 250-350 times a minute. This causes your lower chambers to beat fast as a response, commonly as fast as 150 beats a minute or more. A normal heart rate is 60 to 100 beats a minute when you're at rest.

With atrial flutter, your heart’s chambers can’t fill with blood fast enough because the contractions are too frequent. Also, there isn’t enough time for your atria (upper chambers) to empty all their blood into your heart ventricles in the lower part of your heart. This causes your heart to pump less blood to your body than normal.