A Review of Wolff-Parkinson-White for the General Practitioner

Ismael Corral; Cherlyn Angela Perez-Corral

doi:10.1016/j.yapd.2025.03.007

A Review of Wolff-Parkinson-White for the General Practitioner

Adv Pediatr. 2025 Aug;72(1):235-244. doi: 10.1016/j.yapd.2025.03.007. Epub 2025 May 23.

Authors

Ismael Corral¹, Cherlyn Angela Perez-Corral²

Affiliations

¹ Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA; Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Sylmar, CA, USA. Electronic address: icorral@dhs.lacounty.gov.
² Department of Medicine, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 1000 West Carson Street, Box #400, Torrance, CA 90509, USA.

PMID: 40582753
DOI: 10.1016/j.yapd.2025.03.007

Abstract

Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome was first described nearly a century ago and has been found to have a relatively high prevalence within the general population. The risk of sudden cardiac death due to a high-risk accessory pathway in pediatrics is substantially higher than in adults necessitating further risk stratification to identify and treat these high-risk patients. It is of upmost importance for the general practitioner to be able to identify patients with WPW, which is often diagnosed incidentally, and refer to a cardiologist for further evaluation.

Keywords: Arrhythmia; Sudden cardiac arrest; Sudden cardiac death; Tachyarrhythmia; VPE; Ventricular pre-excitation; Ventricular preexcitation; WPW; Wolff-Parkinson-White.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Child
Death, Sudden, Cardiac / etiology
Death, Sudden, Cardiac / prevention & control
Electrocardiography
Humans
Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome* / complications
Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome* / diagnosis
Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome* / epidemiology
Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome* / physiopathology
Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome* / therapy