![]() ![]() If a patient is refractory to these pharmacologic treatments and goes into junctional tachycardia, intravenous phenytoin can be administered in a monitored setting as these patients can develop hypotension. In the setting of digoxin toxicity, a patient must be treated with atropine and digoxin-specific antibody. Otherwise, healthy individuals who have junctional rhythm and are asymptomatic need no medical management as the rhythm is usually a result of their increased vagal tone suppressing the SA node intrinsic automaticity. Therefore, before establishing a management plan for patients presenting with a junctional rhythm, an underlying etiology must be determined first. In circumstances where the junctional rhythm is a result of underlying sinus node dysfunction that is leading to asystole or bradycardia, it should not be terminated, for it is maintaining the heart rate. ![]() Treatment of a junctional rhythm primarily depends on the underlying cause of the rhythm. The terminology used to identify the type junctional rhythm depends on its rate and is as follows: This electrical activity then travels through the atria to the AV node from where it reaches the Bundle of His from where the electrical signals travel to the ventricles through the Purkinje fibers. Generally, in sinus rhythm, a heartbeat is originated at the SA node. A junctional rhythm is where the heartbeat originates from the AV node or His bundle, which lies within the tissue at the junction of the atria and the ventricle. The first septal perforator of the left anterior descending artery also supplies blood to the AV node. The blood supply to the AV node is from the AV nodal branch of the right coronary artery (90%) or the left circumflex artery (10%) depending on the right or left dominant blood supply to the heart. The sinoatrial nodal artery supplies blood to the sinoatrial node, it branches off the right coronary artery in 60% of cases, whereas in 40% of cases, it comes from the left circumflex coronary artery. This anatomic region is also commonly referred to as the triangle of Koch. It sits within an anatomic region bordered posteriorly by the coronary sinus ostium, superiorly by the tendon of Todaro, and anteriorly by the septal tricuspid valve annulus. The atrioventricular node (AV) is a subendocardial structure situated in the inferior-posterior right atrium. The sinoatrial node (SA) is the default pacemaker and is located subepicardially and is crescent in shape.
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