SHORT PR INTERVAL ASSOCIATED WITH A PROLONGED QRS COMPLEX

Abstract

Twelve years ago Wolff, Parkinson and White¹ described a syndrome appearing in healthy young people subject to attacks of paroxysmal tachycardia. Electrocardiograms taken during the intervals between attacks showed wide QRS complexes with short PR intervals. Isolated cases had been previously reported by Wilson,² Wedd³ and Hamburger,⁴ but the complete picture had not been appreciated. This syndrome, though uncommon, is now well known,⁵ and it is recognized that the bizarre electrocardiograms do not necessarily represent cardiac damage. It occurs in all age groups with the exception that it has not yet been recognized in a newborn infant. It is more common in males, and most persons have attacks of paroxysmal tachycardia of either supraventricular or ventricular origin. In some of the cases reported atropine or exercise has caused the electrocardiographic pattern to return to a normal configuration, but this is not an invariable finding. A