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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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Paroxysmal (also termed sporadic) supraventricular tachycardia usually occurs without other symptoms. However, it may be associated with a number of medical conditions, such as the following:

• Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis)
• Heart failure
• Thyroid disease
• Chronic lung disease
• Pneumonia
• Pulmonary emboli, or blood clots migrating into the lung arteries from elsewhere in the body
• Pericarditis
• Certain drugs and social habits
• Cocaine abuse
• Alcohol abuse
• Smoking
• Drinking too much caffeine in coffee, tea, or soft drinks
• Emotional stress
• Pregnancy
• Structural abnormalities, such as Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, in which extra electrical tissue sets up abnormal electrical circuits that predisposes the heart to arrhythmias which include PSVT, A fib, AF, and ventricular fibrillation

PSVT may also occur as a side effect of medications such as digitalis, asthma medications, or cold remedies.

In some cases, the cause of PSVT is unknown. PSVT is the most common arrhythmia in infants, children, and pregnant females.

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