by Mark | Dec 13, 2015 | Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiology, General Public
What is AVNRT? Rapid beating of the heart can cause the sensation of palpitations, which are often described as fluttering, pounding, and beating sensations in the chest. Sometimes these palpitations are rapid enough to affect other parts of the body, and people with palpitations may also describe feelings of lightheadedness, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Occasionally, these palpitations are rapid enough to cause people to pass out (syncope), though this is rare. Rapid palpitations may come from the heart’s upper chambers, the atria, and in most cases, are not generally considered life threatening (although rare exceptions do exist). Alternatively, palpitations may come from the heart’s lower chambers, the ventricles, which in some cases may be life-threatening. Also, the natural electrical “bridge” between the atria and ventricles, the atrio-ventricular (AV) node, can be a common site of arrhythmias causing palpitations. The best way to start the diagnosis of the cause of palpitations is to have an electrocardiogram (ECG) read by a physician experienced in heart rhythm disorders. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a category of arrhythmias that come from above the ventricles. The most common type of regular SVT is AtrioVentricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia (AVNRT), and is responsible for 50% of SVT cases (1). AVNRT is more common in women than men, and typically occurs in patients between 20 and 40 years old. This long, descriptive arrhythmia name details the biology of the abnormal electrical circuit within the heart that leads to the palpitations that are commonly described. In AVNRT, there is a small circular (Reentrant) electrical circuit that “spins” around in the AV node, the normal, natural electrical bridge between the atria and ventricles....
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