Which Medication is contraindicated in children for SVT? Read on!

Supraventricular Tachycardia is a topic that will make its way on to the exam.

It is one of the topics on the Peds MOCA abridged content specifications and is a commonly tested topic on the General Pediatric Board Certification exam. 

 A solid understanding of the basic diagnosis and treatment principles will score you easy points so you don’t go into SVT yourself trying to figure it all out. 

The following information should be impossible to forget and will definitely come in handy on the exam!

SVT is the most common arrhythmia in children.

They may simply describe an infant who is fussy with a heart rate over 200.

First things First

If you are presented with an infant in SVT and you are asked for choose the “initial” treatment, then vasovagal maneuvers will be correct.

Of course you have to read the question carefully. 

If they provide you with other choices like 12 lead EKG or administer oxygen this would be correct, but these might already be included in the description. 

If you have to choose among medications then adenosine would be correct. 

IF SVT continues to recur despite adenosine, then diltiazem would be correct. 

 What is adenosine isn’t available ? 

—Cardioversion would be the correct answer

WARNING

Long term treatment might include digoxin but if you were presented with a case of Wolff-Parkinson White Syndrome that would be incorrect. Make sure it is actually SVT you are being tested on. If you are presented with an EKG reading make sure you have the correct diagnosis.

Our original question

Which Medication is contraindicated in children for SVT?

Answer: Verapamil is never used in children for SVT .

These key points should put you in a good place to answer questions on SVT correctly.

Cheat Sheet on SVT
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