The electrocardiogram during sinus rhythm and tachycardia in patients with Mahaim fibers: the importance of an "rS" pattern in lead III.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to identify the electrocardiographic (ECG) characteristics of the Mahaim fiber. BACKGROUND: Mahaim fibers are slowly conducting accessory pathways reaching into the right ventricle. They often play a role in tachycardias. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 40 patients with Mahaim fibers. Five patients had associated Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and were excluded from the study. Two patients had a short atrioventricular decremental accessory pathway and were also excluded. The remaining 33 patients had a tachycardia with anterograde conduction over a Mahaim fiber. Twenty were female. Their mean age was 24 +/- 10 years. RESULTS: The most common pattern of minimal preexcitation during sinus rhythm was an rS pattern in lead III. This was found in 20 patients. There was a match between the presence of rS in lead III during sinus rhythm and left axis deviation during tachycardia with anterograde conduction over the Mahaim fiber. After ablation, a different QRS pattern emerged in lead III, indicating the absence of conduction over the Mahaim fiber. To obtain information on the prevalence of an rS pattern in lead III in age-matched controls with palpitations and without structural heart disease, the 12-lead ECG of 200 young individuals were examined. An rS pattern in lead III was found in 6%. CONCLUSIONS: A narrow QRS with an rS pattern in lead III during sinus rhythm in a patient with a history of palpitations should alert the physician to the possibility of a Mahaim fiber. During tachycardia, these patients typically show a left bundle branch block-like QRS complex with left axis deviation.

Congenital malformations of the right atrium and the coronary sinus: an analysis based on 103 cases reported in the literature and two additional cases.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Congenital malformations of the right atrium (RA) and the coronary sinus (CS) are rare, and only sporadic cases have been reported. Little is known about the clinical relevance of this disorder. We report on two patients, one with a giant RA diverticulum, the other with a diverticulum of the CS, and review 103 cases of such malformations that have been reported previously. DESIGN: A MEDLINE search was performed to collect all cases of congenital malformations of the RA and the CS reported in the literature between 1955 and 1998. Cases were classified into the following categories: (1) congenital enlargement of the RA; (2) single diverticulum of the RA; (3) multiple diverticula of the RA; and (4) diverticulum of the CS. Clinical presentation and outcome of the different types of malformations were analyzed. RESULTS: The patients most frequently presenting with symptoms were those with diverticula of the CS (n = 28) followed by those with single diverticula of the RA (n = 13), multiple diverticula (n = 4), and congenital enlargements of the RA (n = 60). The percentages of symptomatic patients were 93, 84, 75, and 53%, respectively. Symptoms were frequently caused by arrhythmias. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) was found in 42 of the patients (40%) and was most common in patients with diverticula of the CS (24 of 28 patients) and multiple atrial diverticula (3 of 4 patients). Sudden cardiac death was reported more frequently in patients with diverticula of the CS (18%) compared to those with congenital enlargement of the RA (5%) or single or multiple diverticula of the RA (6%). All seven patients with diverticula of the CS who were not treated with catheter or surgical ablation eventually died. CONCLUSION: Congenital malformations of the RA and the CS frequently are associated with arrhythmias. SVT and sudden cardiac death have been reported in a significant percentage of patients with diverticula of the CS.

[The curative treatment of incessant atrioventricular tachycardia by radiofrequency ablation]. / Curación de la taquicardia incesante auriculoventricular mediante ablación con radiofrecuencia.

The permanent form of junctional reciprocating tachycardia is due to accessory pathways with retrograde long conduction times. We report the localization of the atrial insertion of the accessory pathway and successful ablation with radiofrequency in 3 patients. The participation of an accessory pathway in the tachycardia was demonstrated by atrial capture without changes in the sequence, with ventricular stimuli during His bundle refractoriness. The atrial insertion was localized by mapping near the os of the coronary sinus. In all cases one to three radiofrequency pulses applied at this point interrupted the tachycardia. Retrograde conduction through the accessory pathway reappeared in 30 min or earlier in all, with displacement of the point of earliest atrial activation, and tachycardia recurred. Total abolition of accessory pathway conduction and cure of the tachycardia required new radiofrequency applications, that in one case were done in a second procedure.

Inducible atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia in infants with a history of neonatal orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia.

Atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT) is an uncommon mechanism of supraventricular tachycardia in neonates in whom orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia (ORT) predominates. We report three patients with structurally normal hearts who presented with neonatal ORT, documented by transesophageal electrophysiology studies at 2 to 3 weeks of age. At follow-up study at 8-12 months of age, no infant had inducible ORT, suggesting spontaneous regression of congenital accessory pathways; however, each had inducible tachycardia consistent with the typical form of AVNRT. The clinical significance of this finding is unknown and warrants further study.

AV node reentry tachycardia in infants.

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of atrioventricular (AV) node reentry tachycardia in infants undergoing transesophageal electrophysiological study for paroxysmal tachycardia. The records of all 52 infants < 1-year-old with structurally normal hearts who underwent transesophageal study for paroxysmal tachycardia over a 3-year period were reviewed. Those with a diagnosis of AV node reentry tachycardia underwent complete data review, and follow-up of > 12 months was obtained. Six of 52 infants had a diagnosis of the common type of AV node reentry tachycardia. Tachycardia was diagnosed at a mean age of 2.1 months (range 1 day to 10 months), and 3 of 6 underwent transesophageal study within the first month. Although no patient had structural heart disease, three patients had significant noncardiac disease. Follow-up of 15-38 months (mean 24 +/- 7.8) revealed recurrences in 2 of 6 patients. The mean tachycardia cycle length was 240 ms (range 200-310 ms), and the transesophageal ventriculoatrial intervals ranged from < 30 to 55 ms. All patients had a inducible reentrant tachycardia with a ventriculoatrial interval that remained constant even when tachycardia cycle length increased following verapamil or adenosine administration, or decreased following isoproterenol infusion. Five of 6 had evidence for discontinuous AV node conduction curves. In our patients the substrate for AV node reentry tachycardia was present early in life, and AV node reentry tachycardia can be a clinical problem even in the newborn period.

Reentrant tachycardia using two discrete atrioventricular nodes and a concealed atriofascicular pathway.

We describe a case of reentrant supraventricular tachycardia using two discrete atrioventricular (AV) nodes in the antegrade direction and a concealed atriofascicular pathway in the retrograde direction in a 21-year-old woman with superior-inferior ventricles and ventricular inversion. Using the Carto endocardial mapping system, two discrete AV nodes were identified as well as a separate decremental AV pathway located midway between the two nodes. Ablation of the separate pathway resulted in elimination of inducible tachycardia without loss of either AV node.

Ablaçäo de vias anômalas com conduçäo decremental

Estudos eletrofisiológicos têm comprovado a existência de vias acessórias atípicas que apresentam características funcionais semelhantes ao nó atrioventricular (AV), ou seja, propriedade de conduçäo decremental. Diferente das vias anômalas convencionais, nas quais a conduçào anterógrada e/ou retrógrada se faz de maira rápida, essas vias conduzem o estímulo elétrico de forma lenta. A presença no circuito reentrante de duas estrutras de conduçäo lenta do tipo nodal AV permite, por vezes, a manutençäoa taquiarritmia originando as formas permanentes ou incessante. Seräo revisadas as vias anômalas de conduçäo decremental anterógradas e retrógradas, apresentando o estado de arte da técnica de ablaçäo com radiofrequência (RF), em um grupo de pacientes submetidos ao procedimento em nossa institutiçäo.