Definitions for "AV node"
A collection of specialized cardiac cells located in the right atrium between the coronary sinus and the tricuspid valve's septal cusp which form a portion of the heart's electrical conduction system. In conducting the electrical impulse from the atria to the ventricles, the AV node introduces a delay that allows the atrial contraction to occur first, thus augmenting the filling of the relaxed ventricles. It also acts as a physiologic gate to prevent the ventricles from contracting too rapidly in response to pathologic atrial tachyarrhythmias.
See Atrioventricular Node.
A relay station between the atria and ventricles that causes a delay in the electrical impulse to permit the atria to finish contracting (emptying) before ventricular contraction