Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)
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Extract
- Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is typically a narrow-complex regular arrhythmia with an abrupt onset and termination.
- Vagal stimulation is the first-line treatment for an episode of acute SVT. If vagal stimulation is ineffective, the patient should be given adenosine.
- Patients with recurrent episodes of SVT should be referred to a cardiologist with expertise in arrhythmia management (cardiac electrophysiologist); catheter ablation therapy is a curative treatment form and it has superseded drug therapy in the prophylactic treatment of SVT.
- Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome must be diagnosed and the patient always referred for specialist management.
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Adenosine, Aged, Aminophylline, Amiodarone, Arrhythmia, Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiac Complexes, Premature, Cardiology, Cardiomyopathies, Coronary Disease, Digoxin, Dipyridamole, Electric Countershock, Flecainide, Heart Rate, I45.6, I47.1, Internal medicine, Lidocaine, PQ time, PSVT, QRS complex, R00.0, SVT, Tachycardia, Tachycardia, Ectopic Atrial, Tachycardia, Ectopic Junctional, Tachycardia, Paroxysmal, Tachycardia, Supraventricular, Tachycardia, Ventricular, Valsalva Maneuver, Verapamil, WPW, Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, accessory conducting pathway, broad-complex tachycardia, carotic massage, delta wave, hidden WPW, narrow-complex tachycardia, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, prophylaxis, reentry activation, vagus stimulation