Topic summary
AV node
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Atrioventricular node.
The atrioventricular node (AV node, or Aschoff-Tawara node) is part of the electrical conduction system of the heart. It electrically connects the atria to the ventricles to coordinate beating. The AV node lies at the lower back section of the interatrial septum near the opening of the coronary sinus and conducts the normal electrical impulse generated by the sinoatrial node to the ventricles. It slightly delays the electrical impulse by about 0.09s. The AV node also fires intrinsically (without external stimulation) at a rate of 40–60 times/minute, slower than the sinoatrial node. It is quite compact (~1 x 3 x 5 mm).