[The double ventricular response phenomenon in 2 cases of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome]

The authors report two cases of "true" consecutive double ventricular response caused by a single premature atrial stimulation; both were young men with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In both cases, the presence of a bundle of Kent was confirmed. The phenomenon of double ventricular response arising successively from the bundle of Kent and node-His pathway is rare, being mentioned in only two cases in the literature. It is only found when there is the combination of a good bundle of Kent, fair forward conduction, and a relative ventricle-His retrograde block. Amongst the other mechanisms for double ventricular repsonse, re-entry from branch to branch presents the most difficult differential diagnosis. From our observations, the forward characteristics of the spread through the bundle of His which always procedes the bundle of His which always precedes the second ventricular complex have been confirmed, especially in view of the freat variation in the position of this potential which can easily be explained by variations in intra-nodal conduction. In one of these cases, the atriogram, taken after the second ventriculogram, was provided by retrograde activity in the bundle of Kent.