The diagnosis and clinical implications of interatrial block

Abstract

Impaired interatrial conduction or interatrial block is now well-documented but is not described as an individual electrocardiographic (ECG) pattern in the majority of ECG literature. In fact the term atrial abnormality has been adopted to encompass both left atrial enlargement (LAE) and interatrial block. In this paper, we maintain that interatrial blocks and atrial enlargement are separate entities, and that interatrial blocks, similar to other types of blocks at sinoatrial, AV junctional, and ventricular level, exhibit a specific ECG pattern that may present first, second, and third degree types of conduction block. The third degree or advanced interatrial block (A-IAB) is frequently associated with atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter (AF/AFl), and constitutes a true newly-described syndrome.