Preface.

Abstract

Benzy J. Padanilam, MD, EditorView Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)I (E.N.P.) was asked to guest edit an issue of Cardiac Electrophysiology Clinics on “Cardiac Conduction System Disorders.” I quickly asked my partner and colleague, Dr Benzy Padanilam, to coedit this with me, and he graciously agreed. Then, we were tasked with providing 12 to 15 articles on this topic, and at first glance this seemed hard to do; after all, there are only so many parts of the conduction system to discuss. Before we knew it, we had developed 16 separate articles on this subject, but because of illness of the writer of the article on right bundle branch block, the final issue has 15 articles. Carefully selected authors were asked to provide state-of-the-art information for clinicians on topics of their expertise. They have focused not just on a pure academic review but also on the clinical applications important to the practicing physicians. We cannot thank them enough for their outstanding contributions. In the end, we feel this issue of the Cardiac Electrophysiolgy Clinics will be a valuable resource for health care providers from students to clinicians. The first 5 articles focus on more broad-based topics. The article by Karki and colleagues is a thorough review of the anatomy and pathology of the conduction system, followed by the article by Prystowsky and Gilge that discusses in detail the physiology of atrioventricular (AV) conduction and the effects of the autonomic nervous system on it. The article by Clark and Prystowsky shows the electrocardiographic representation of various conduction patterns, and the article by Miles and George informs on the variants of AV conduction, for example, gap and aberrancy. The article by Porta-Sánchez and Giuliana Priori details genetic abnormalities of sinus node and AV conduction. The next 5 articles are more focused on a specific abnormality of the conduction system. The article by Sathnur and colleagues discusses sinus node abnormalities, and the article by Jackson and Ugowe discusses the epidemiology of prolonged PR interval. The article by Pujol López and colleagues updates our knowledge of left bundle branch block, and the article by Gilge and Padanilam reviews bilateral bundle branch block. The article by Steinberg is an in-depth discussion of congenital heart block. The last 5 articles focus on a variety of causes of AV conduction disorders and pacemaker therapy for them. The article by Pelargonio and Pavone discusses reversible causes of heart block, and the article by Cheung and colleagues informs on iatrogenic AV block. Systemic diseases that cause heart block are covered in the article by Sabzwari and Tzou, and pacemaker-induced cardiomyopathy is covered in the article by Khurshid and Frankel. The article by Padala and Ellenbogen reviews the latest data on conduction system pacing for patients with heart block. We hope you enjoy this issue of Cardiac Electrophysiology Clinics.