An abnormal heart rhythm characterized by three heart sounds instead of the normal two, creating a rhythm that resembles a horse's galloping. It indicates serious heart dysfunction, typically heart failure.
Named for its resemblance to the three-beat rhythm of a galloping horse, with the term entering cardiology in the early 20th century. The comparison was made because the additional heart sound creates a distinctive triple cadence.
A gallop rhythm is actually your heart crying for help - it occurs when the heart muscle is so weakened that it creates an extra sound during filling, like an overstretched balloon making noise as it expands! The fact that it sounds exactly like a horse galloping is one of medicine's most poetic diagnostic signs.
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