AVRT

          AVRT - Atrial Ventricular Reentry Tachycardia is very similar to AVNRT with the exception that one or more of the two conduction channels exists outside the AV node. These extra conduction channels are called accessory bypass tracts and are present at birth in people who have AVRT. Most people are born without these bypass tracts and thus, can not have this type of tachycardia. If a person does have a bypass tract when they are born, it does not mean they will ever have problems with AVRT.
Accessory bypass tracts may conduct signals antegrade, from the atrium to the ventricle, or retrograde, from the ventricle to the atrium. When a bypass tract conducts antegrade, it falls under the category of Wolf Parkinson White syndrome, or WPW. It is easy to identify patients with WPW due to the ventricular preexcitation that occurs when a patient has this type of bypass tract. The tissue of accessory bypass tracts behaves very similar to normal heart muscle, or myocardial, tissue. Mycocardial tissue conducts the electrical signals of the heart at a rapid rate where tissue of the AV Node conduct signals at a much slower rate. This slower conduction through the AV node helps prevent the heart from beating overly fast. When a bypass tract is present that conducts angtegrade, the

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