Surgical Treatment of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

In 1930, Wolff, Parkinson, and White[1] first described a syndrome characterized by episodes of tachyarrhythmia with a short P-R interval, an abnormal QRS, and a special delta wave on electrocardiograms. Patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (W-P-W) syndrome may have frequent attacks of serious arrhythmia that result in syncope, shock, heart failure, and sudden death.[2,3] The mechanism was not understood until last decade by the investigations and researches of many authors.[4,5,6] This disorder was attributed to the existence of an accessory conduction pathway between the atrium and the ventricle (as described by Kent in 1914). The presence of this accessory conduction pathway was further proved by the electronic microscopic examinations of serial sections of the atrioventricular ring and septum of the postmortem specimens obtained from patients who died of W-P-W syndrome.[10–13] Successful surgical treatment has been reported by surgeons of various countries since 1968. [15–20]