Ch276 Supraventricular Tachyarrhythmias Flashcards
T or F: Most supraventricular tachyarrhythmias produce wide QRS complex tachycardia (QRS duration >120 ms)
False
mostly narrow QRS-complex <120 ms
2 types of supraventricular tachyarrhythmia
- Physiologic sinus tachycardia
2. Pathologic tachycardia
T or F: Supraventricular arrhythmia usually precipitates cardiac arrest in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome or severe heart disease such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
False
Rarely
Diagnostic of supraventricular arrhythmia
ECG
Normal sinus rhythm rate
60-100 beats/min
Sinus tachycardia rate
> 100 beats/min
Difference of sinus tachycardia vs atrial tachycardia
Sinus tach: GRADUAL increase and decrease in rate
Atrial tach: ABRUPT onset and offset
Treatment for physiologic sinus tachycardia
Treat the underlying condition
Uncommon condition in which sinus rate increases spontaneously at rest or out of proportion to physiologic stress or exertion
Inappropriate sinus tachycardia
Common: women, 3rd-4th decade
Defining feature of physiologic sinus tachycardia
Normal sinus mechanism precipitated by exertion, stress, concurrent illness
Drug that blocks the funny current (If) causing sinus node depolarization
Ivabradine
Syndrome wherein symptomatic sinus tachycardia occurs with postural hypotension
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
Condition due to autonomic dysfunction following a viral illness and resolve spontaneously over 3-12 months
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
Treatment for POTS that can be helpful
Volume expansion with salt supplementation Oral Fludrocortisone Compression stockings a-agonist midodrine Exercise training
Condition due to abnormal automaticity, triggered automaticity, or a small reentry circuit confined to the atrium or atrial tissue extending into a pulmonary vein, the coronary sinus, or vena cava
Focal atrial tachycardia (AT)
Sustained, nonsustained, paroxysmal, incessant
Type of focal atrial tachycardia that can cause tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy
Incessant AT
Difference of AT from AV nodal-dependent SVTs
AT will not terminate with AV block and atrial rate will not be affected
Defining feature of Inappropriate sinus tachycardia
Tachycardia from normal sinus node area that occurs without an identifiable precipitating factor as a result of the dysfunctional autonomic regulation
Defining feature of Focal atrial tachycardia
Regular atrial tachycardia with defined P wave
In AT, P wave may fall on top of the T wave or coincident with QRS. What maneuvers can be done to expose the P wave?
Carotid sinus massage
Valsalva maneuver
Administration of AV nodal-blocking agents (Adenosine)
Maneuvers that increase AV block
Common causes of physiologic sinus tachycardia
- Exercise
- Acute illness with fever, infection, pain
- Hypovolemia, anemia
- Hyperthyroidism
- Pulmonary insufficiency
- Drugs that have sympathomimetic, vagolytic, or vasodilator properties
- Pheochromocytoma
Treatment for AT with recurrent episodes
- Beta blockers
- Calcium ch blockers (Diltiazem, Verapamil)
- Flecainide
- Propafenone
- Disopyramide
- Sotalol
- Amiodarone
Recommended treatment for recurrent symptomatic AT if unresponsive to drugs OR Incessant AT causing tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy
Catheter ablation
The most common form of PSVT
AV nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT)
women>men, 2nd-4th decade
T or F: AVNRT is usually associated with structural heart disease.
False
NOT usually associated
T or F: In AVNRT, P wave can be difficult to discern
True
Is AVNRT responsive to Valsalva manuever?
Yes
Recommended treatment for recurrent or severe episodes or when drug therapy is ineffective, not tolerated, or not desired in patients with AVNRT
Catheter ablation of the slow AV nodal pathway
Condition due to automaticity within the AV node; Rare in adults and more frequently encountered as incessant tachycardia in children usually in perioperative period surgery for congenital heart disease
Junctional Ectopic Tachycardia (JET)
Is JET, a narrow or wide QRS tachycardia?
Narrow QRS tachycardia
A junctional automatic rhythm between 50 and 100 beats/min
Accelerated junctional rhythm
Defining feature of AV nodal reentry tachycardia
- Paroxysmal regular tachycardia with P waves visible at the end of the QRS complex or not visible at all
- Most common paroxysmal sustained tachycardia in healthy young adults
- More common in women
Conditions associated with accessory pathways
- Ebstein’s anomaly of tricuspid valve
- Forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (PRKAG2 mutations)
- Danon’s disease (LAMP2, lysosomal membrane disorder)
- Fabry’s disease (lysosomal storage disease)
Location of accessory pathways
Across either an AV valve annulus or septum, most frequently between the left atrium and free wall of the left ventricle, followed by posteroseptal, right free wall, and anteroseptal locations
ECG findings associated with accessory pathways
- Short P-R interval (<0.12s)
- Slurred initial portion of the QRS (delta wave)
- Prolonged QRS duration (widened QRS complex)
Defined as preexcited QRS during sinus rhythm and episodes of PSVT
Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome
The most common tachycardia caused by an AP
PSVT (Orthodromic AV reentry)
Pathway of orthodromic AV reentry
Reentry wavefront propagates from atrium anterogradely over the AV node and His-Purkinje system to ventricles and then re enters atria via retrograde conduction over the AP
Most common preexcited tachycardia in which activation propagates from atrium to ventricle via the AP and then conducts retrogradely to the atria via the His-Purkinje system and the AV node
Antidromic AV reentry
T or F: Preexcitated tachycardia is associated with ventricular fibrillation and sudden death.
True
AV nodal-blocking agents that are contraindicated in preexcitated tachycardia
Oral or IV verapamil Diltiazem Beta blockers IV adenosine IV amiodarone
Treatment for preexcited tachycardia
Electrical cardioversion
IV procainamide
Ibutilide
*slow ventricular rate