What is a safe premature atrial contraction (PAC) burden?

Hello @rob7

I see you are inquiring about premature atrial contractions. Perhaps you have recently been diagnosed with this disorder?

I did find some information on Cleveland Clinic's website. Here is the link, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21700-premature-atrial-contractions.

I also found a rather scholarly article on the NIH website on this topic. Here is the link, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4599506/

I would also like to invite @danab and @predictable to this discussion as they have both dealt with heart arrhythmias.

I look forward to hearing from you again. Do you currently have a treatment plan in place with meds or further testing?

Thank you so much @hopeful33250
Great article. Thank you.
Feel free to join others in.
I wore a heart holter monitor for 3 days. I just got the Summary Report and it showed a PAC burden of 3.4% and an average of 2789 PACs per day.
I am trying to find out:
“how many PACs per 24 hr period is ok, common, not to worry about, or to worry about.”
I have a cardiologist here in Houston I am seeing and I am going to get his opinion but trying to find the answer myself first. Not much info on this on the internet.
Any information or links you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
@rob7

@rob7

I'm glad that you found the articles helpful. Understanding and educating yourself regarding a health problem is really important. It empowers and helps you feel more assured when you go to a doctor's appointment.

I look forward to you hearing from others on Connect who have had this type of problem. Will you continue to post as you learn more?

Yes I will post as I learn more about these PACs.
Thank you for your help.
@rob7

What are your symptoms of PAC's? I just posted my full story on the discussion board. I have PVC's feels like an adrenaline rush electric shock every time it happens. Chest pressure diffuse is my main symptom right now has been constant for 3 weeks.

Have you been seen by an Electrophysiologist cardiologist yet? I had multiple regular cardiologist but a Electro cardiologist deals with the electrical aspect of the heart. My regular cardiologist were scratching their heads when I tried to explain my symptoms. I have a heart birth defect which is known as Wolff, Parkinson, White Syndrome. It’s a one in a million people kind of problem. I have a short circuit in my Atrial chamber, we’re the SA node and AV node are located. You SA node is the heart’s natural pacemaker, it sets the pace for each heartbeat to start there. The AV node is in the bottom of the Atrial Chamber. It receives the command from the SA node to make the right ventricle to pump the blood in that chamber so that it can receive the blood from the right Atrial chamber. In my case, there is a short circuit from my SA node to the AV node which commands the right ventricle to pump. Only problem in my case, the regular pathway is also commanding the right ventricle to squeeze and empty the chamber. This creates a major problem for me because my right ventricle isn’t full of blood yet before it’s commanded to pump because of the short circuit command. Now my heart is about to go into Pulseless Ventricle Tachycardia which will trigger A-fib, which will trigger a fatal heart attack. Since the beat command in the short circuit keeps going round and round, my heart has skyrocketed to 197bpm or higher. It called Pulseless because your heart is beating so fast, you can’t feel a heart beat.

In your case, you SA node is firing to quickly sometimes causing it to command the AV node to to pump the blood in the right ventricle. If I remember correctly, your problem could be fixed by installing a electronic pacemaker because your heart’s normal pacemaker (SA node) isn’t firing correctly. They may also install a defibrillator to go with the pacemaker to shock your heart to get the correct rhythm. This is only my opinion and in no way is a diagnosis of your problem. So please go see an Electrophysiologist Cardiologist, not a regular Cardiologist.

Does anyone know how to treat Premature Atrial Contractions and does anyone know how many are normal?