Which description matches atrial flutter on ECG?

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Multiple Choice

Which description matches atrial flutter on ECG?

Atrial flutter shows rapid, organized atrial activity from a reentrant circuit in the atria. On the ECG, this appears as a regular series of sawtooth flutter waves rather than discrete P waves. The ventricle typically tracks these atrial impulses with a constant AV conduction pattern, so the rhythm tends to be regular; when the conduction is about 2:1, the ventricular rate is around 150 bpm, producing a regular narrow-complex tachycardia. That combination—sawtooth flutter waves with a regular ventricular rate—is the classic description of atrial flutter. The other descriptions don’t fit as well: irregular rhythm with absent P waves points to atrial fibrillation; regular narrow-complex tachycardia without visible P waves could be another SVT such as AVNRT/AVRT; wide complex tachycardia suggests ventricular tachycardia or SVT with aberrancy rather than classic atrial flutter.

Atrial flutter shows rapid, organized atrial activity from a reentrant circuit in the atria. On the ECG, this appears as a regular series of sawtooth flutter waves rather than discrete P waves. The ventricle typically tracks these atrial impulses with a constant AV conduction pattern, so the rhythm tends to be regular; when the conduction is about 2:1, the ventricular rate is around 150 bpm, producing a regular narrow-complex tachycardia. That combination—sawtooth flutter waves with a regular ventricular rate—is the classic description of atrial flutter.

The other descriptions don’t fit as well: irregular rhythm with absent P waves points to atrial fibrillation; regular narrow-complex tachycardia without visible P waves could be another SVT such as AVNRT/AVRT; wide complex tachycardia suggests ventricular tachycardia or SVT with aberrancy rather than classic atrial flutter.

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