Skip Navigation

European Heart Journal 1990 11(12):1116-1119;
Copyright © 1990 by the European Society of Cardiology.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by PATRUNO, N.
Right arrow Articles by CRITELLI, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by PATRUNO, N.
Right arrow Articles by CRITELLI, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1990 The European Society of Cardiology

Deceptive surgical results in three siblings with familial Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

N. PATRUNO, F. COLTORTI, G. PULIGNANO, P. URBANI and G. CRITELLI

Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ Rome, Italy

Received 9 October 1989; revised 8 February 1990; .

Correspondence address: Professor Giuseppe Critelli, Via Antonio Nibby. 5C, 00161 Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Three siblings with familial Wolff-Parkinson- White syndrome and two instances of sudden death are described. In all of them, multiple accessory pathways with a very short anterograde refractory period and rapid ventricular responses during atrial fibrillation had been documented, thus surgical ablation of the bypass tracts had been performed. Although abolition of the accessory pathway conduction had been demonstrated post-operatively, an electrophysiologic evaluation performed after 2–8 years showed resumption of conduction over the anomalous connections, with life-threatening arrhythmias during induced fast atrial rhythms. This report demonstrates that apparent success of surgery for pre-excitation syndrome, judged during the postoperative course, may be illusory in some patients, and return of accessory pathway conduction can occur later on.

Key Words: Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome • surgical correction


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.