Atrial tachycardia

  • Presents as narrow-complex tachycardia (>100BPM), usually due to increased automaticity.
  • It can arise from a single focus (focal atrial tachycardia) or multiple foci (multifocal atrial tachycardia).
  • Focal atrial tachycardia
    • Can be paroxysmal (short) or sustained (long-term).
    • Appears in patients with digoxin toxicity, congenital abnormalities, alcohol or stimulant usage, and ischemia.
    • P-waves are consistant in morphology.
  • Multifocal atrial tachycardia
    • Appears in patients with respiratory failure.
    • P-waves show different morphologies. The rhythm is irregularly irregular (chaotic).
  • The AV node blocks rates higher than 200/min, resembling 2nd degree AV block; however, this is a normal feature of the AV node and not a pathological AV block.

Atrial flutter

Atrial flutter is a type of atrial tachycardia in which there's a macro-reentry circuit within the atrium, characterized by a regular "saw-tooth" pattern.

  • Atrial rate is ~300/min, and the ventricular

Subscribe now to continue reading

Join hundreds of successful students who use Meddists to ace their exams.

Gain access to all of the material and topics, custom-made just for you.

Continue