Theoretical Foundations Catheter ablation is an intervention focused on targeted removal of or damage to an area that causes arrhythmias. This intervention began to be performed at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s because it had been found that treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs was expensive and the drugs had to be taken throughout patients' lives. Thanks to its high success rate and low risk of complications, it has been used in the treatment of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. At present, the success rate is around 75 %, and the intervention sometimes needs to be repeated to achieve its desired effect. Objectives of the thesis The first objective was to find out whether patients with a history of catheter ablation changed their personal and professional lives. The second objective was to map out which areas of the patients' live were affected most by the catheter ablation treatment. The third objective was to find out about differences in the patients' lives before and after catheter ablation. Research questions V1: In what areas are the patients' lives limited most? V2: What changes have occurred in their lives after catheter ablation? Methodology The research part of the thesis was carried out using a qualitative survey conducted by means of semi-structured interviews with patients suffering from arrhythmias. The total of 9 respondents, 5 males and 4 females, were interviewed. The information obtained was processed using programme Atlas.ti. The results are presented as networks created in this programme. Results The research questions can be answered using the data obtained from the respondents suffering from arrhythmias. The first research question was aimed at finding out in what areas the patients' lives were limited most. It was found out, through the semi-structured interviews, that the most limited area was personal life, in which arrhythmia caused most difficulties to the respondents during sports activities. Because of their health problems, most of the respondents limited their sports activities or abandoned them altogether in favour of their health. Other problems are caused during physical strain and under physical load. That was also the thing that the addressed respondents preferred to avoid. The respondents are also limited in the performance of their work, when the main cause of their problems is psychological stress, mental stress resulting in arrhythmia symptoms in the respective respondents. The second research question examined what changes occurred in their lives after catheter ablation. The changes that occurred related to the care of the family and the household in which they are able to engage in multiple activities. The respondents were able to pay more attention to their families by whom they are encouraged in the treatment. There was an overall improvement in their health, enabling better integration into everyday life. The most frequently mentioned area of changes was sport. During the period after catheter ablation, the respondents began to return gradually to their hobbies. Conclusion The thesis describes the restrictions that arrhythmia caused to the respondents and also the changes that have occurred in the individual respondents after catheter ablation treatment. The results can be used in practice in the education of patients who wait for the catheter ablation treatment and in subsequent measures using the prepared mind maps.

The aim of the presented thesis is to map the influence of heart arrhythmia on patients´ lives and the possibility of using the conceptual model by Imogen King into the nursing care at the patient with arrhythmia. The set goals were accomplished on the basis of the empirical research which was processed by both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The first part of the research was performed by the quantitative method of collecting data from the survey. The aim of this survey was to map the quality of life of patients with the heart arrhythmia. The second part of the research was performed by the qualitative method of collecting data from the interview with the patient. Total of 127 of valid questionnaires were evaluated for the quantitative part of the research and 20 interviews with the patients with heart arrhythmia were performed for the qualitative part of the research. Based on the qualitative research was found out that the most significant symptom of arrhythmia is fast or irregular heartbeat, usually causing faintness, anxiety and uneasiness. The patients with arrhythmia are mostly limited during physical activities. There have not been found out any statistically significant differences between the persistence of arrhythmia and the health condition and the quality of life of the patient. That means that the persistence of arrhythmia in the researched group of patients does not influence the health condition and the life quality of the patients who took part in the survey ASTA. There was also monitored the relation between uneasiness (anxiety) and selected indicators (how the patients are able to work or study, concentrate or do physical activity). In this case were proven statistically significant differences. The qualitative research complemented the qualitative data. The quality of lives of the respondents was evaluated according to Imogen´s King conceptual framework and the responses of the respondents were ordered according to the framework system: personality system, interpersonal system and social system. As emerged from the responses of the respondents, the most negatively perceived symptom of arrhythmia is palpitation which causes anxiety, uneasiness and leads to sleeping disorders and lower physical activity. In contrast to the restrictions that have to be taken up in connection with the heart arrhythmia are only temporary and do not influence interpersonal and social relationships. The thesis brings a complex view of the problematics of the life quality of patients suffering from arrhythmia when this is not only a medical problem but it also influences patient´s mental and social well-being. The very important element which influences the successful cooperation of the arrhythmia patient and the doctor is the nurse who thanks to the emphatic attitude helps to build the faith in the good results of the medication - recovery and keeping the life quality. Using the conceptual framework in nursing, specifically during the treatment of arrhythmia patients helps to provide individualized nursing care and achieving improvement of the quality of the care provided and also the patient´s satisfaction.

The Thesis deals with the area of cardio stimulation. It describes the different stimulation modes and their specifics. It describes the creation of a virtual cardio stimulator based on R-waves, designed in the LabVIEW application. Part of the thesis is the software realization of the model and the verification of its functionality.

The aim of this diploma work is the suggestion and realization of a cardiostimulator of „On Demand“ type operated by microcontroller. The work is structured on four thematic parts. For the correct suggestion of the whole system, firstly is necessary to understand correctly the cell’s electrophysiology and heart’s anatomy, inclusive the cardiology arrhytmia, which are adherent to cardiostimulators. The cardiostimulator is inhibited by the R-wave and is adaptive on a pulse rate of a source signal. The whole system is supplied by batteries and this supplying is taken into consideration. The network’s functionality is realized on the ECG simulator. There are suggested the suitable enhancements in discussion.

The goal of this thesis was to discover the influence of adaptation to chronic hypoxia on ischemic tolerance of heart - this experiment was carried out on two different hypertension kinds of laboratory rats. Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and rats from a conplastic strain SHR/OlaIpcv-mtBN/Crl , whose mitochondrial genome of the SHR strain was replaced with a mitochondrial genome of the normotensive strain Brown Norway, were exposed to continuous normobaric hypoxia (10% O2) for a period of 3 weeks. On the other hand, the control group of rats was kept in normoxia. At the end of the adaptation period, the ischemic tolerance of heart and the mitochondrial aconitase expression were examined. In the case of both hypertensive strains, the chronic hypoxia led to a significant drop in the size of a myocardial infarction and also to a drop in the number of reperfusion arrhythmias. In the case of the SHR strain, the incidence of ischemic arrhythmias decreased. Chronic hypoxia had no impact on the aconitase expression for both analysed strains. This thesis showed that the ischemic tolerance of heart can be enhanced in the case of the SHR strain. On the other hand, the mitochondrial genome of the SHR strain does not seem to play any significant role in protection mechanism. Key words: chronic hypoxia,...

Opioids are considered as a dangerous addictive substances which are widely used in medicine for their strong analgetic effects. Opioids (such as morphine and methadon) may nevertheless play an important role in the resistance of the heart to ischemia by reducing the rate of cell damage. This protective effect is well understood about morphine but we don't know almost nothing about effects of methadone on the myocardium. The main aim of this thesis was to find out how chronic methadone treatment affects ischemic tolerance of rat hearts. For our experiments we used Wistar rats in two series. In the first series we administered morphine (10 mg/kg/day, i.m.) or methadone (2 mg/kg/day, i.m.) for 10 days. In the second experiment series we administered methadon for 28 days (2 mg/kg/day, i.m.). For analysis of the ischemic heart tolerance we used the isolated perfused heart method. Incidence and severity of ischemia and reperfusion arrhythmias were analyzed during the 50 min of ischemia and early reperfusion. Infarct size was analyzed histochemically, using tetrazolium salts and KMnO4 1 h after reperfusion and was determined by planimetric method. In the first series of experiments analyzing the effect of 10-day administration of both opioids on the resistance of the heart to ischemia we did not find a...

Succinate is one of the intermediate in the Krebs cycle, which in recent years has been shown to interfere with other cellular events, some of which may affect cardiac ischemic tolerance. The aim of this project was to clarify its cardioprotective role in rat hearts subjected to acute ischemia-reperfusion. The myocardial resistance to acute ischemia (infarct size and incidence and severity of ischemic and reperfusion arrhythmias) was analyzed using the Langendorff method of isolated perfused heart at a constant flow with acute succinate administration. Local ischemia was induced by ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery. Acute administration of 1 mM succinate before 60 minutes of ischemia or before reperfusion only had a beneficial effect on reducing the infarct size by 25-30 % compared to the control group. At the same time, it had an adverse effect on the incidence and severity of ischemic and reperfusion arrhythmias. Key words: Succinate, heart, rat, heart-attack, ventricular arrhythmias

Heart rhythm disorders alias arrhythmias rank among the most frequent heart diseases. They result from a disorder of generation or conduction of electric impulses at the heart. There are often arrhythmias of which one is not conscious and which may be detected in long-term ECG monitoring. Patients{\crq} problems mostly arise from rhythm disorders that are paroxysmal or permanent. These may endanger the patient{\crq}s life. Subjective troubles reported by patients include uncomfortable heart palpitation, fatigue, breathlessness, distress, shorter breath, dizziness or even unconsciousness; sometimes patients may feel unpleasant chest pain. These subjective feelings are very uncomfortable for a person suffering from heart arrhythmia and can make it impossible for him/her to manage routine daily activities. The task of a nurse is to help a patient overcome this difficult period and instruct him/her of a healthy lifestyle as a prevention of heart diseases. In this respect, cooperation between the nurses in hospitals and the nurses in cardiologic out-patient departments is important. Four hypotheses were raised. The first hypothesis was to confirm that the care of patients with heart arrhythmia after their discharge to home-care is sufficient in respect of their needs. This hypothesis was confirmed. The second hypothesis was to confirm that the patients are sufficiently instructed on prevention of recurrence of heart arrhythmias. This hypothesis was not confirmed. The third hypothesis was to confirm that patients know the impacts of heart arrhythmias on their overall health state, and was not confirmed. The fourth hypothesis was to confirm that patients are aware of other options of the care after discharge from hospital. This hypothesis was not confirmed. In the practical part of the thesis I used a quantitative research. The research was conducted in hospitals in České Budějovice, Jihlava, Plzeň and Prague, in the form of anonymous questionnaires distributed to patients in cardiologic out-patient departments. The results have been processed in charts and tables in the SPSS programme. The objectives were fulfilled. The appendix to the thesis contains a brief proposal suggesting on what the nursing care should be focused after a patient{\crq}s discharge from hospital. The results will be offered to deputy managers for the nursing care and to nurses in cardiologic out-patient departments.

The theoretical part of the thesis contains a brief description of the anatomy and electrophysiology of the heart, as well as both, surface and intracardiac electrocardiograms. The thesis also describes the different types of cardiac tachycardias, their differential diagnosis and what is known as The Expert System. The practical section of the thesis notes and outlines the tree diagrams, and additionally describes various software solutions of The Expert System. Further, the thesis includes the classification of the heart rhythm, using The Expert System method with three typical tachycardia cases, and including a list of questions asked by The Expert System to the user. Answers to all questions asked are being assessed in the text, as well as illustrated in submitted examples of intracardiac ECG recordings. The Expert System has been verified during a series of catheterization procedures on 26 patients (where the evaluated cardiac rhythm was 34). The classication of the type of heart rhythm (per The Expert System) when comparing the results with the doctors coincided in 100 % of tested cases.

The thesis describes design, algorithmization and realization of graphical application for recording EKG and PPG signal using LabJack UE9 tool in Matlab program, it also describes subsequent deposition of recorded signals and their processing, such as optional selection, cropping and filtering. Furthermore there are described types of filters, methods for detecting basic parameters of EKG and PPG signals and methods for detecting R waves and Systolic peaks. Based on detection of those parameters, algorithms for computing average heart rate and finding arrhythmias were designed and tested. Last part of the thesis includes an evaulation which compares values detected by designed algorithms with values from public database which includes reference annotation.