Effectiveness of surgical management of the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

In this report, the surgical experience with the treatment of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in 190 patients who had 210 Kent bundles has been summarized. The patients with reentry tachycardia caused by the Kent bundle were relieved by Kent division or by His division, the latter being used only in 10 percent of the patients. A malignant ventricular arrhythmia was found in 25 percent of the patients and was due to a Kent bundle that conducted an atrial flutter-fibrillation 1:1 to the ventricle. This arrhythmia was corrected by Kent interruption, since the Kent bundle alone participated in the arrhythmia. Other unusual manifestations of Kent bundles were found, such as multiple pathways, unidirectional conducting pathways, and pathways causing incessant junctional tachycardia. Other cardiac problems were frequently present, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and Ebstein's anomaly. Even in such a multifaceted problem caused by a minute congenital abnormality, careful application of sophisticated electrophysiologic measurements followed by appropriate surgical methods have proved to be effective in correcting the two arrhythmias associated with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.