Editorial Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome and Isoproterenol Testing in Children A Valid Adjunct to Predict Risk?

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) is the mostcommon indication for invasive cardiac catheterization and electrophysiological testing in children. There are pres-ently 2 predominant reasons for this. First, patients with WPW are, as the original 1930 investigators so eloquently pointed out, at risk for “paroxysmal tachycardia.”1 Supraven-tricular tachycardia is typically either orthodromic or, less commonly, antidromic reentrant tachycardia and can cause recurrent and debilitating symptoms. Present-day ablation techniques provide the promise of a cure for WPW in as many as 90 % to 100 % of patients who undergo this procedure with relatively low risk.2,3 Multiple studies have demonstrated the many medical, psychological, and financial benefits of abla-tion in the symptomatic WPW child.4–6 Article see p 73 The second reason that children with WPW underg