What is the typical ECG appearance of atrial flutter?

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What is the typical ECG appearance of atrial flutter?

Atrial flutter is produced by a rapid, organized atrial rhythm from a reentrant circuit in the atria. On ECG, the P waves are replaced by flutter waves that have a distinctive sawtooth appearance, best seen in the inferior leads. The atrial rate is typically 250–350 beats per minute. The ventricular rhythm depends on how the AV node conducts these impulses and can be regular or regularly irregular, often with a fixed conduction ratio (for example, 2:1) producing a predictable ventricular rate. This combination—sawtooth flutter waves at about 250–350 per minute with a rhythm that is either regular or regularly irregular—best matches atrial flutter. The other descriptions fit different rhythms or timings (for example, atrial fibrillation shows irregular rhythm with no distinct P waves; a slower flutter rate around 150–180 bpm is not typical; large U waves with a slow rhythm points to a nonflutter pattern).

Atrial flutter is produced by a rapid, organized atrial rhythm from a reentrant circuit in the atria. On ECG, the P waves are replaced by flutter waves that have a distinctive sawtooth appearance, best seen in the inferior leads. The atrial rate is typically 250–350 beats per minute. The ventricular rhythm depends on how the AV node conducts these impulses and can be regular or regularly irregular, often with a fixed conduction ratio (for example, 2:1) producing a predictable ventricular rate. This combination—sawtooth flutter waves at about 250–350 per minute with a rhythm that is either regular or regularly irregular—best matches atrial flutter. The other descriptions fit different rhythms or timings (for example, atrial fibrillation shows irregular rhythm with no distinct P waves; a slower flutter rate around 150–180 bpm is not typical; large U waves with a slow rhythm points to a nonflutter pattern).

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