Atrial Flutter

Atrial flutter is a reentrant arrhythmia that can be either typical or atypical. Typical atrial flutter is a reentrant arrhythmia that goes up the intraatrial septum, back down the crista terminalis and through the space between the tricuspid valve and the inferior vena cava. Typical atrial flutter can be identified as a saw tooth pattern on the ECG. The space between the tricuspid valve and the inferior vena cava can be ablated, which cures this arrhythmia about 90-95%.

This patient presents in typical atrial flutter, which was successfully ablated, as shown below.

Atypical flutter involves alternative reentrant circuits, and are more difficult to ablate, and usually has a decreased success rate, especially if the flutter circuit is in the left atria.