[Current treatment of tachycardia]

Tachycardias including atrial fibrillation often require hospitalisation. A diagnostic algorithm from the surface ECG allows discrimination between supraventricular and ventricular tachycardias. For acute treatment, only a few antiarrhythmic drugs such as adenosine, ajmaline and amiodarone, and in case of hemodynamic instability electrocardioversion are required. For long-term treatment catheter ablation is the option of choice for almost all patients with supraventricular tachycardias, atrial flutter, idiopathic ventricular tachycardias and for many patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation. Chronic antiarrhythmic drug therapy is less often used. In patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias in the setting of severe structural heart disease, risk stratification must be performed and ICD therapy is often indicated. Anticoagulant therapy according to risk score analysis is often indicated in patients with atrial fibrillation.