The permanent or recurring form of junctional reciprocating tachycardia (PJRT) is an incessant tachycardia that has characteristic clinical and electrophysiologic features of PJRT. Each patient demonstrated near-incessant reciprocating tachycardia with a 1:1 atrioventricular (AV) relationship and with a retrograde P wave (P') occurring closer to the succeeding QRS complexes (i.e., long RP'). With initiation of the tachycardia, there was no prolongation of the PR or AH interval. All patients had evidence of early retrograde atrial activation in their posterior atrial septa and this retrograde limb had properties of decremental conduction. Eight of the nine patients underwent elective surgical ablation of the retrograde limb of tachycardia, and in seven it was successful. Epicardial and endocardial atrial maps recorded during PJRT demonstrated that the site of earliest retrograde activation was in the posterior atrial septum near the coronary sinus orifice. The seven patients in whom surgery was successful left the hospital in sinus rhythm with antegrade conduction, and all are free of tachycardia during the mean follow-up period of 31 months (range 1 to 70 months). In the two remaining patients PJRT was controlled by interruption of the antegrade limb of the tachycardia, the AV node-His bundle. In one patient this was done under direct vision at surgery after an unsuccessful attempt at pathway dissection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)