Chapter 59 – Electrophysiologic Characteristics of Atrioventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia: Implications for the Reentrant Circuits

Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT), the most common form of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, 1 is a fascinating complex of arrhythmias. AVNRT was originally proposed to result from reentry totally confined within the compact atrioventricular (AV) node. 2 3 However, the typical form of AVNRT (slow/fast) is now thought to involve the AV node, a component of atrial myocardium, and at least two atrionodal connections. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Much of the current understanding about the components of the reentrant circuit has evolved from the development of ablation procedures, in which one of the atrionodal connections, remote from the compact AV node, is destroyed, eliminating AVNRT without producing AV block. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 16 17 18