Atrioventricular Junctional Tachycardias

Some basic mechanisms of atrioventricular (AV) junctional tachycardias are presented in this chapter, along with discussion and demonstration of the enormous progress in electrophysiology and therapy of arrhythmias during the last two decades.

There are several types of AV junctional tachycardias, but most physicians are especially familiar with one type—the common paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, correctly referred to as atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT). Note, however, that the supraventricular (reentry) tachycardia in Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is called atrioventricular reentry tachycardia. AVNRT is based on the dual-pathway anatomy of the AV node. In a minority of humans, these two pathways are used functionally, in sinus rhythm as well as in AVNRT.