Disease Information for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

A form of pre-excitation characterized by a short PR interval and a long QRS interval with a delta wave-----------------------Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome

Accessory Atrioventricular Pathways; Preexcitation Syndrome

WPW Syndrome; Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome is a rare disorder involving cardiac arrhythmia; Patients have an extra circuit or pathway, called the Bundle of Kent, through which electrical signals are conducted to the heart, allowing excessive stimulation; Palpitations (sensation of rapid or irregular beating of the heart), weakness, and shortness of breath may occur--[NORD 2005]----

Tachycardias involving accessory pathways are called reciprocating tachycardias (RT); In the most common form, activation is from atria to ventricles through the normal

A- V node returning via the accessory pathway to the atria; A narrow QRS tachycardia results, during which P waves are inscribed after the QRS complex; This direction of tachycardia is called orthodromic; Very rarely, conduction may be in the opposite direction, when a broad QRS complex antedromic RT results; Accessory pathways (eg, Kent bundle), which link the atria and ventricles bypassing the A-V node, are responsible for the Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome; In affected patients, a typical ECG pattern of short PR interval and slurred QRS complex (d wave) is associated with arrhythmias; Antegrade conduction over the accessory pathway is necessary to create the short PR interval and the d wave, but it is retrograde conduction that is important for sustaining orthodromic RT; Thus, a concealed accessory pathway (normal PR, no d wave in sinus rhythm) may support the arrhythmia;

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