- About 1 in 300 people in the United States have a racing heartbeat condition known as paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia.
- In a new study, a nasal spray drug showed promise in treating these acute events and potentially becoming superior to current treatments.
- If deemed safe and effective, this drug could help people get immediate relief and also lower the burden on the emergency healthcare system.
Treatment for a racing heartbeat condition could soon be almost as simple as taking a fast-acting inhaler for an asthma attack if clinical trials of a new nasal spray pan out.
That’s according to
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) is a term that defines a subset of heart conditions in which the heart beats for more than 100 beats per minute in its lower chambers for a short period of time.
The condition affects millions of people in the United States and is expected to affect nearly more than 7 million people by 2050, according to the
While not typically life-threatening, the condition can cause fainting, light-headedness, shortness of breath, dizziness, and heart palpitations. It can develop at any age and stem from conditions as various as anxiety, cardiomyopathy, and pneumonia.
Finding a safe, easily self-administered frontline treatment for PSVT has long been a goal of researchers.
Current treatments usually involve either treating the root causes of PVST, such as prescribing beta blockers to treat hyperthyroidism-induced PVST and surgical or catheter treatment to eliminate disruptive heart tissue.
In less severe cases, doctors sometimes employ vagal maneuvers, which involve techniques including applying abdominal pressure, “bearing down” motions, and putting gentle pressure on the carotid artery to calm the vagus nerve.
However, self-administered vagal maneuvers are only effective 20 to 40% of the time, according to the American Heart…
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