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For my STEAM Project I chose to research Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW). WPW is a heart condition that I have. The objective that this project covers is from Unit 11: #39. Explain how the heart translates an electrical signal to a contraction. My project is a drawing of myself with imagery that represents what it’s like to live with WPW. WPW is a heart condition that you can’t tell someone has just by looking at them, I expressed this through the frame containing a heart that I am holding. The heart inside of the frame shows the accessory pathway that causes the symptoms of WPW; which can be seen surrounding me. WPW is extremely rare, and I only found out I had it because I was experiencing chest pains and it was noticed on an EKG because of the delta waves. The delta waves show the preexcitation of the ventricles.
WPW is a heart condition in which the heart has one or more accessory pathways that cause ventricular preexcitation (El Hussein & Phillips, 2024). This can cause arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, and sudden cardiac death (El Hussein & Phillips, 2024). This accessory pathway connects the atrium and the ventricle, which allows the flow of electrical impulses to the atrium from the ventricles, this causes supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) (Asakai et al., 2025). The accessory pathway unnaturally activating the ventricle causes the ventricles to depolarize out of sync from each other (Asakai et al., 2025). Normally, the heart contracts through a series of electrical signals causing depolarization of the atrium and ventricles that starts with an action potential in the sinoatrial (SA) node (Wei et al., 2023). The action potential creates an electrical impulse that is depolarizing, which is carried out from the SA node to the left and right atrium which causes them to contract (Wei et al., 2023). The signal then moves to the ventricles through the atrioventricular (AV) node which causes them to contract (Wei et al., 2023).
In a heart with WPW however, the accessory pathway allows for the electrical signal to divert from the AV node and rapidly move from the atrium to the ventricles (El Hussein & Phillips, 2024). This can cause symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, chest pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, and anxiety (MayoClinic, 2023). Sometimes patients with WPW will be asymptomatic and this is called WPW pattern rather than WPW syndrome (MayoClinic, 2023).
WPW is usually diagnosed from an ECG reading along with a stress test to examine tachycardia and symptoms (Zieve & Conaway, 2022). In some cases a heart monitor may be used to keep an eye on when episodes occur, in my case I have worn a heart monitor for 2 weeks many times and my cardiologist has found that my episodes are most common at rest.
Many times, WPW is treated with an ablation. An ablation is a procedure where a catheter is used to reach the heart from an area near the groin, this is to avoid open heart surgery (Zieve & Conaway, 2022). At the heart the accessory pathway is either burned away using radiofrequency, or it is removed by freezing it (Zieve & Conaway, 2022). This procedure completely removes the accessory pathway and fixes symptoms by removing the pathway that is allowing the preexcitation.
References
Asakai, H., Udupa, S., Chiu-Man, C., & Stephenson, E. A. (2025). Risk Factors Associated With Ventricular Dysfunction in Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. ScienceDirect. Retrieved April 15, 2025, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277281292400099X
El Hussein, M. T., & Phillips, A. (2024). Pharmacotherapy of Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW): A Review for Nurse Practitioners. ScienceDirect. Retrieved April 15, 2025, from (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1555415523003586)
MayoClinic. (2023, December 13). WPW syndrome: Rare cause of sudden cardiac death in young people – Symptoms and causes. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/wolff-parkinson-white-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20354626
Wei, X., Yohannan, S., & Richards, J. R. (2023, April 17). Physiology, Cardiac Repolarization Dispersion and Reserve – StatPearls. NCBI. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537194/
Zieve, D., & Conaway, B. (2022). Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW) – Symptoms and Causes. Penn Medicine. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/wolff-parkinson-white-syndrome
Abstract:
Your steam project was fun to read and learn about.
Wolf- Parkinson- White, also know as WPW is a rare heart condition. WPW symptoms include chest pain, rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, and anxiety. A way to detect this heart condition is by taking an EKG test to see the delta waves, delta waves show pre excitation of the ventricles. Pre excitation is caused by an extra accessory pathway. The accessory pathway connects the atrium and the ventricle, and ultimately creating electrical impulses thus causing Supra-ventricles tachycardia. The accessory pathway unnaturally causes the ventricles to depolarize out of sync from each other.
The heart normally contracts through electrical signals leading to depolarization of the atrium and ventricle, and starts action potential in the SA node. Action potential creates electrical impulses that are depolarized. The SA and AV node continues signals that lead to contraction. With WPW and the accessory pathway allows for the electrical signal to divert from the AV node and to rapidly move through the atrium and ventricle, and this is what causes the symptoms of WPW.