ventricular fibrillation

[ven-trik-yuh-ler fib-ruh-ley-shuhn]

noun

Pathology.

1. a cardiac arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, caused by rapid, chaotic electrical impulses to the ventricles: prevents the heart from pumping blood normally, which leads to a complete loss of blood pressure and pulse, followed rapidly by death if not treated. VF, VFib.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ventricular fibrillation¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Mr McKeown, who is 37, was taken to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, where they discovered he had suffered a ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest, which is when the heart quivers instead of pumping normally.

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Caffeine overdoses can cause primary cardiac arrests in the form of ventricular fibrillation, which is different from sudden cardiac arrest.

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She described the cause of death as an “acute myocardial infarction and ventricular fibrillation.”

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If the impact is strong enough and occurs at a specific moment between heartbeats, it can send the heart into an erratic, disorganized rhythm called ventricular fibrillation.

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The transplant recipient, 57-year-old David Bennett, had advanced heart failure and a type of arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation.

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