Types of Supraventricular Arrhythmias

Supraventricular arrhythmias begin in the atria

Types of supraventricular arrhythmias include:

Premature atrial contractions (PACs)

Early, extra heartbeats that originate in the atria.

Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT)

A rapid but regular heart rhythm that comes from the atria. This type of arrhythmia begins and ends suddenly.

Accessory pathway tachycardias (bypass tract tachycardias)

A fast heart rhythm caused by an extra, abnormal electrical pathway or connection between the atria and ventricles. The impulses travel through the extra pathways as well as the usual route. This allows the impulses to travel around the heart very quickly, causing the heart to beat unusually fast (example: Wolff- Parkinson-White syndrome).

AV nodal re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT)

A fast heart rhythm caused by the presence of more than one pathway through the atrioventricular (AV) node.

Atrial tachycardia

A rapid heart rhythm that originates in the atria.

Atrial fibrillation

A very common irregular heart rhythm. Many impulses begin and spread through the atria, competing for a chance to travel through the AV node. The resulting rhythm is disorganized, rapid and irregular. Because the impulses are traveling through the atria in a disorderly fashion, there is a loss of coordinated atrial contraction.