Enhanced Atrioventricular Conduction during Atrial Flutter after Intravenous Adenosine

Abstract

To the Editor: Adenosine is the treatment of choice for tachycardia with narrow QRS complexes involving the atrioventricular node as part of its reentrant circuit1. It has also been recommended as a diagnostic aid in determining the mechanism of other tachyarrhythmias, but there has been no thorough analysis of its risks and benefits for this use. We report an adverse event associated with adenosine administered for diagnostic purposes to a patient with atrial flutter. A 53-year-old man came for medical evaluation because of palpitations. An electrophysiologic study previously revealed normal atrioventricular-node function (second-degree atrioventricular nodal Wenckebach block occurred at… © 1994, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.