[Etiology and classification of cardiac arrhythmias]

The presence of cardiac arrhythmias may at times suggest a specific underlying heart disease or even noncardiac disease. The most common and important cause of cardiac arrhythmias is coronary artery disease. In the past three decades, according to decrease in the incidence of rheumatic heart disease, the cause of atrial fibrillation is also going to change. Various classification of arrhythmias are available, however, a simple one is related anatomical portion of the heart in which they arise. Recently, the Sicilian gambit has introduced a classification which is based on there electrophysiologic mechanism. This classification is valuable for the clinician, because it makes easy to understand the strategy for suppression of the arrhythmias.