This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by MOE, G. K. Articles by MERIDETH, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by MOE, G. K. Articles by MERIDETH, J.

(Circulation. 1968;38:5.)
© 1968 American Heart Association, Inc.

---

An Appraisal of "Supernormal" A-V Conduction

G. K. MOE M.D., PH.D.¹; R. W. CHILDERS M.D.¹; J. MERIDETH M.D.¹

¹ From the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory, Utica, New York.

Certain temporal patterns of A-V and V-A transmission in experimental preparations resemble phenomena attributed to "supernormal" conduction in the clinic. Detailed study of the properties of the A-V transmission system in such experiments reveals alternative explanations in which supernormality is clearly eliminated. By application of similar principles, supernormality can be eliminated as a factor in most if not all of the published examples. Three major categories can be discerned: (1) occult 2:1 A-V block, in which an idioventricular beat "retracts" an otherwise refractory barrier within the A-V node; (2) alternation between dissociated intranodal transmission pathways; and (3) "ventriculophasic" (vagal) depression of nodal conductivity.

Key Words: Alternation • Occult A-V block • Ventriculophasic (vagal) depression of nodal conduction • Diastolic depolarization • Peeling • His-Purkinje system • 1, 2, 3, 4 phenomenon • Idioventricular beat • Premature beats

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. R. Laurita, S. D. Girouard, F. G. Akar, and D. S. Rosenbaum Modulated Dispersion Explains Changes in Arrhythmia Vulnerability During Premature Stimulation of the Heart Circulation, December 15, 1998; 98(24): 2774 - 2780. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Mazgalev, K. Mowrey, I. Efimov, G. J. Fahy, D. Van Wagoner, Y. Cheng, and P. J. Tchou Mechanism of atrioventricular nodal facilitation in rabbit heart: role of proximal AV node Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, October 1, 1997; 273(4): H1658 - H1668. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]