Question:medium
A 25-year-old male with no previous cardiac complaints presents with arrhythmia. He gives a recent history of binge drinking. What is the pathology likely in this patient?
A 25-year-old male with no previous cardiac complaints presents with arrhythmia. He gives a recent history of binge drinking. What is the pathology likely in this patient?
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New arrhythmia after a binge drinking episode in a healthy young heart is classic "holiday heart syndrome."
Updated On: Jul 8, 2026
- Atrial fibrillation
- Supraventricular tachycardia
- Ventricular ectopics
- Atrial flutter
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Understanding the Question:
A previously healthy 25-year-old man develops an arrhythmia soon after binge drinking. We need the rhythm disturbance that is classically linked to this trigger.
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Recall the entity called "holiday heart syndrome," which describes a specific arrhythmia appearing after acute heavy alcohol intake in people with no underlying heart disease.
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Alcohol can acutely change the electrical activity of the atria, shorten the atrial refractory period, and raise sympathetic tone, all of which make the atria prone to a chaotic, disorganized rhythm.
This chaotic atrial rhythm is atrial fibrillation, and its sudden appearance after a drinking binge in an otherwise normal heart is exactly what holiday heart syndrome describes.
Supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular ectopics, and atrial flutter can all occur with heavy alcohol use as well, but none of them carries the same strong, classic, named association with binge drinking that atrial fibrillation does.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The likely pathology is atrial fibrillation, the hallmark rhythm of holiday heart syndrome.
A previously healthy 25-year-old man develops an arrhythmia soon after binge drinking. We need the rhythm disturbance that is classically linked to this trigger.
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Recall the entity called "holiday heart syndrome," which describes a specific arrhythmia appearing after acute heavy alcohol intake in people with no underlying heart disease.
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Alcohol can acutely change the electrical activity of the atria, shorten the atrial refractory period, and raise sympathetic tone, all of which make the atria prone to a chaotic, disorganized rhythm.
This chaotic atrial rhythm is atrial fibrillation, and its sudden appearance after a drinking binge in an otherwise normal heart is exactly what holiday heart syndrome describes.
Supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular ectopics, and atrial flutter can all occur with heavy alcohol use as well, but none of them carries the same strong, classic, named association with binge drinking that atrial fibrillation does.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The likely pathology is atrial fibrillation, the hallmark rhythm of holiday heart syndrome.
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