title: Bidirectional Ventricular Tachycardia Due to a Mixture of Focal Fascicular Firing and Reentry.
abstract: Bidirectional ventricular tachycardia (BDVT) is a well-known phenomenon since it was first described in 1922. Various mechanisms have been proposed for BDVT, including digitalis toxicity, hypokalemia, Anderson-Tawil syndrome, acute myocarditis, and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. It is characterized by rapid, wide complex electrocardiogram pattern with alternating QRS morphology and axis. The alternation of the QRS is usually right bundle branch block with 180° swings in the frontal plane axis or, less commonly, alternation of right bundle branch and left bundle branch forms. Most of the proposed mechanisms involve triggered activity or enhanced automaticity. We describe a unique BDVT, with characteristics of both re-entry and triggered activity, which terminated with a focal Rf lesion.
authors.affiliation: MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute, #501 Hamaker court, Fairfax, VA 22031, USA. Electronic address: sarfraz.A.Durrani@medstar.net.
authors.forename: Sarfraz A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Durrani
authors.affiliation: Peninsula Primary Care, Cardiology, 30 Garden Court, Suite B, Monterey, CA 93940, USA.
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.affiliation: University of California San Francisco Medical Center, 500 Parnassus Avenue, MUE 436, San Francisco, CA 94143-1354, USA.
authors.forename: Melvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scheinman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002037:Bundle-Branch Block; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias; D008297:Male; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia; D013610:Tachycardia
keywords: Bidirectional ventricular tachycardia; Bundle branch reentry; Enhanced automaticity; Fascicular tachycardia