Pathophysiology
Electrical activity in the normal human heart is initiated when a cardiac action potential arises in the sinoatrial (SA) node, which is located in the right atrium. From there, the electrical stimulus is transmitted via internodal pathways to the atrioventricular (AV) node. After a brief delay at the AV node, the stimulus is conducted through the bundle of His to the left and right bundle branches and then to the Purkinje fibers and the endocardium at the apex of the heart, then finally to the ventricular myocardium.
The AV node serves an important function as a "gatekeeper", limiting the electrical activity that reaches the ventricles. In situations where the atria generate excessively rapid electrical activity (such as atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter), the AV node limits the number of signals conducted to the ventricles. For example, if the atria are electrically activated at 300 beats per minute, half those electrical impulses may be blocked by the AV node, so that the ventricles are stimulated at only 150 beats per minute—resulting in a pulse of 150 beats per minute). Another important property of the AV node is that it slows down individual electrical impulses. This is manifested on the electrocardiogram as the PR interval (the time from electrical activation of the atria to electrical activation of the ventricles), which is usually less than 120 milliseconds in duration.
Individuals with WPW have an accessory pathway that communicates between the atria and the ventricles, in addition to the AV node. This accessory pathway is known as the bundle of Kent (see below). This accessory pathway does not share the rate-slowing properties of the AV node, and may conduct electrical activity at a significantly higher rate than the AV node. For instance, in the example above, if an individual had an atrial rate of 300 beats per minute, the accessory bundle may conduct all the electrical impulses from the atria to the ventricles, causing the ventricles to contract at 300 beats per minute. Extremely rapid heart rates such as this may result in hemodynamic instability or cardiogenic shock. In some cases, the combination of an accessory pathway and cardiac dysrhythmias can trigger ventricular fibrillation, a leading cause of sudden cardiac death.
WPW may be associated with PRKAG2, a protein kinase enzyme encoded by the PRKAG2 gene.
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