Atrial flutter (AFL) is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias in humans, afflicting approximately 0.19 million people in the United States in 2005; its prevalence is expected to increase to 0.44 million by 2050 because of the aging population.…
Acknowledgment C.R.E. discloses significant research funding (to Vanderbilt University) from Medtronic Inc., Boston Scientific Inc., and Boehringer Ingelheim Inc. He is on the advisory board/consultant for Medtronic Inc., Boston Scientific Inc., AtriCure, Inc., and Abbott Medical Inc. A.N.K. is a…
Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, with an estimated prevalence of 2% among unselected adults, an increasing prevalence with each decade of life, and a twofold higher risk in men relative to women. , The…
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is responsible for significant impairment in quality of life and thromboembolism and contributes to substantial morbidity and health care expenditure. AF is the most common arrhythmia in humans. It is heterogeneous in its mechanism, presentation, and clinical…
The cardiac electrical impulse normally travels from the atria to the ventricles via the atrioventricular (AV) node, His bundle, bundle branches, and Purkinje fibers. Preexcitation refers to electrical activation of the ventricles via an accessory pathway (AP), occurring earlier than…
Junctional tachycardia, alternatively known as junctional ectopic tachycardia (JET), originates from the atrioventricular (AV) junction, which encompasses the AV node and His bundle. JET is rarely encountered, especially in the adult population, and its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. Furthermore, its…
Atrioventricular (AV) nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) was originally proposed to result from reentry confined within the compact AV node. Now, however, AVNRT is thought to involve the AV node, at least two atrionodal connections, and a component of the atrial…
Introduction Atrial tachycardia (AT) is an important entity in the differential diagnosis of narrow complex tachycardia. It is defined as an arrhythmia that originates in atrial tissue that does not encompass the sinus node. Although nonsustained asymptomatic episodes are frequently…
Introduction Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT; Table 70.1 ) refers to a group of heterogenous arrhythmias with different electrophysiologic mechanisms manifesting as a regular narrow complex tachycardia, typically having an abrupt onset and offset. The differential diagnosis for these disorders includes…
Major advances have been made over the last 3 decades that have defined the genetic basis of many medical diseases. There are now more than 40 different cardiovascular diseases directly caused by variants in genes that encode cardiac proteins. These…