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Medicine vocabulary · Symptoms and Signs

Tachycardia

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/ˌtækɪˈkɑːrdiə/nounCommon term

In medicine, tachycardia means: A heart rate that is faster than normal, usually over 100 beats per minute in an adult at rest.

In Turkish: taşikardi

How it is used

A sign rather than a diagnosis: doctors look for the cause, such as pain, fever, dehydration, bleeding, sepsis, PE or an arrhythmia. Notes say 'tachycardic at 120'. The opposite, a slow heart rate (under 60), is bradycardia.

Example sentences

  1. She remains tachycardic despite fluids, so we need to look for bleeding.

  2. Sinus tachycardia is the most common ECG finding in pulmonary embolism.

Common collocations

  • sinus tachycardia
  • ventricular tachycardia
  • persistent tachycardia
  • tachycardic at 120
  • pulseThe regular beat of the heart that you can feel where an artery is close to the skin, such as at the wrist or neck.
  • palpitationsAn unpleasant awareness of your own heartbeat, which may feel fast, strong, irregular or as if it is skipping beats.
  • atrial fibrillationA common heart rhythm problem in which the upper chambers of the heart beat fast and chaotically, giving an irregularly irregular pulse.
  • sepsisA life-threatening reaction to an infection in which the body's response starts to damage its own organs.
  • vital signsThe basic body measurements checked to see how ill a patient is: temperature, pulse, breathing rate and blood pressure, and often oxygen level.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Symptoms and Signs

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.