Swallowing-induced paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia

This report describes an unusual case of swallowing-induced paroxysmal supraventricular (atrial or junctional) tachycardia in a young man without evidence of organic cardiac or esophageal disease. The arrhythmia was apparently potentiated by excessive coffee ingestion. Unlike swallowing-induced brady-arrhythmias which are due to vago-vagal mechanisms, the supraventricular tachycardia in the present case may have been related to an adrenergic reflex.