MECHANISM OF POST-STIMULATORY ATRIAL FLUTTER IN THE DOG

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The mechanism of post-stimulatory atrial flutter in the anesthetized dog was investigated by employing direct atrial and limb leads. By timing the impulse propagation along the hypothetical circus pathway unidirectional spread of the impulse in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction has been demonstrated. The direction can be reversed in a subsequent episode of flutter in the same animal. Atrial appendages show sequential activation in flutter, and the time lag remains unchanged when the reversal phenomenon occurs in a subsequent episode in the same animal. Two distinct patterns of flutter waves are seen in the limb lead records, depending upon whether the activation of right atrium precedes or follows that of the left atrium. These 2 patterns of flutter waves also occur in the limb lead records of clinical atrial flutter, and it is suggested that electrocardiographic records of patients exhibiting repeated attacks of flutter should be studied for the reversal of flutter waves. The similarities of experimental and clinical flutter are discussed and it is suggested that intravenous acetylcholine may prove useful in the treatment of atrial flutter in man.

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit: