AVRT

This is part of: Supraventricular Rhythms

Atrio-ventricular Re-entry Tachycardias are somewhat similar to AVNRT. An important diffence however is that an accessory bundle is present in AVRT. This accessory bundle connects the atria and ventricles, thereby bypassing the AV node. The most common type of accessory bundle is a bundle of Kent. AVRTs can result from abnormal retrograde conduction (from ventricles to the atria) and anterorade conduction (from atria to ventricles). This results in two type of circular tachycardias:

1. Orthodrome AV Re-entry Tachcardia (conduction retrogarde through the accessory bundle). Usually a narrow QRS complex preceded by a p-wave.
2. Antidrome Atrioventricular Re-entry Tachcardia (anterogarde conduction through the abnormal accessory bundle). The ECG shows wide QRS complexes followed by retrograde P-waves. The RP-time is >> 100ms.