Atrial fibrillation in a child with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

In children, Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is often revealed by reentrant tachycardia episodes. Rarely, this syndrome can be the cause of syncope or of sudden death, resulting from rapid conduction of atrial fibrillation to the ventricles through the accessory pathway. Case report - The authors report the case of a child, who had a WPW syndrome diagnosed after birth because of a supraventricular tachycardia and who was later asymptomatic. At ten years of age, he was admitted because of palpitations due to atrial fibrillation and rapid conduction through the accessory pathway. Conclusion - In a child with WPW syndrome, tachycardia with wide and irregular QRS complexes should evoke the involvement of atrial fibrillation, with rapid conduction to the ventricle. Drugs blocking conduction through the atrio-ventricular node are contra-indicated and the condition is an indication for radiofrequency ablation. (C) 2003 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.