Frequency, diagnosis and clinical characteristics of patients with multiple accessory atrioventricular pathways

Multiple accessory atrioventricular (AV) pathways were documented in 52 of 388 patients (13%) who underwent detailed electrophysiologic evaluation. Multiple AV pathways were identified during intraoperative mapping or electrophysiologic study by (1) different patterns of ventricular preexcitation during atrial fibrillation, flutter or atrial pacing with different delta-wave morphologic and ventricular activation patterns; (2) different sites of atrial activation during right ventricular pacing or orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia; or (3) preexcited reciprocating tachycardia using a second pathway as the retrograde limb of the tachycardia. A logistic model was used to determine which clinical, electrocardiographic and electrophysiologic variables were associated with multiple AV pathways. Right free-wall and posteroseptal accessory AV pathways were more common in patients with multiple AV pathways and were frequently associated. Multivariate logistic regression identified Ebstein's anomaly, and a history of preexcited reciprocating tachycardia as significant variables (p < 0.0001). Pathway location was not subjected to statistical analysis because of confounding variables.