Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are extra, abnormal heartbeats that begin in one of your heart's two lower pumping chambers (ventricles). These extra beats disrupt your regular heart rhythm, sometimes causing you to feel a flip-flop or skipped beat in your chest. Premature ventricular contractions are very common; they occur in most people at some point.

Premature ventricular contractions are also called:

Premature ventricular complexes
PVCs
Ventricular premature beats
Extrasystoles

If you have occasional premature ventricular contractions, but you're an otherwise healthy person, there's generally no reason for concern, and no treatment is needed. If you have frequent premature ventricular contractions or underlying heart disease, you may need treatment to help you feel better and treat underlying heart problems.

Symptoms

Premature ventricular contractions often cause no symptoms. But you may feel an odd sensation in your chest, such as:

Flip-flops
Fluttering
Pounding or jumping
Skipped beats or missed beats
Increased awareness of your heartbeat

If you feel flip-flops, a sensation of skipped heartbeats or odd feelings in your chest, talk to your doctor. You'll want to identify the source of these symptoms. Premature ventricular contractions may be the problem, but other conditions also may be to blame, including other rhythm problems, serious heart problems, anxiety, anemia or infections.

Causes

Your heart is made up of four chambers, two upper chambers (atria) and two lower chambers (ventricles). The rhythm of your heart is normally controlled by the sinoatrial node (SA node), or sinus node, an area of specialized cells located in the right atrium.

This natural pacemaker produces the electrical impulses that trigger the normal heartbeat. From the sinus node, electrical impulses travel across the atria to the ventricles, causing them to contract and pump blood out to your lungs and body.
Premature ventricular contractions are abnormal contractions that begin in the ventricles. These extra contractions usually beat sooner than the next expected regular heartbeat. And they often interrupt the normal order of pumping, which is atria first, then ventricles. As a result, the extra, out-of-sync beats are usually less effective in pumping blood throughout the body.

Western Medicine Treatments

Most people with premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and an otherwise normal heart won't need treatment. Rarely, if you have frequent, bothersome symptoms, you may be offered treatment to help you feel better, but PVCs are usually not harmful.

In some cases, if you have underlying heart disease that could lead to more serious rhythm problems, you may need to make efforts to avoid triggers or perhaps take medications.

Lifestyle changes. Eliminating common PVC triggers, such as caffeine or tobacco, can decrease the frequency and severity of your symptoms.

Medications. Beta blockers, which are often used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease, can suppress premature contractions.

Other medications, such as calcium channel blockers, or anti-arrhythmic drugs, such as amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone) or flecainide, also may be used if you have ventricular tachycardia or very frequent premature ventricular contractions that interfere with your heart's function, causing severe symptoms.
Radiofrequency catheter ablation. For premature ventricular contractions that don't respond to lifestyle changes or medications, your doctor may recommend ablation therapy. This procedure uses radiofrequency energy to destroy the area of heart tissue that is causing your irregular contractions.