reentry (redirected from reentries)

reentry /re·en·try/ (re-en´tre) reexcitation of a region of cardiac tissue by a single impulse, continuing for one or more cycles and sometimes resulting in ectopic beats or tachyarrhythmias; it also requires refractoriness of the tissue to stimulation and an area of unidirectional block to conduction.reen´trant

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re·en·try (r-ntr)

n.

Return of the same impulse into an area of heart muscle that it has recently activated but that is now no longer refractory, as in reciprocal rhythm.

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reentry

[rē·en′trē]

Etymology: L, re, again; Fr, entrée

(in cardiology) the reactivation of myocardial tissue for the second or subsequent time by the same impulse. Reentry is one of the most common arrhythmogenic mechanisms. For example, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia may be caused by sinus nodal reentry, atrioventricular (AV) nodal reentry, or AV reentry by way of the AV node and an accessory pathway; atrial flutter is caused by an atrial macroreentry circuit. Reentry also underlies some forms of ventricular tachycardia and extrasystoles. AV and AV nodal reentry mechanisms may be terminated by a vagal maneuver, adenosine, or procainamide.