PERSISTENT COMPLETE HEART BLOCK IN DIPHTHERITIC MYOCARDITIS

26 January 1952

journal article
research article
Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in JAMA

Vol. 148 (4) , 279-282
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1952.62930040003009a

Abstract

The development of complete heart block in diphtheritic myocarditis usually foretells a fatal outcome. However, there are some exceptions to this rule.¹When the patient does survive, the conduction defect usually disappears rapidly.²Most reports³of persistent heart block are based on speculation in cases of unexplained heart block with a history of diphtheria many years before. Nevertheless, there are five case reports⁴of severe conduction defects that developed during or soon after the diphtheria and persisted 4 to 10 years. Abnormalities of the auricular beat caused by diphtheria are uncommon. An early report⁵of auricular fibrillation transiently complicated by complete heart block demonstrated that the fibrillation persisted six months after the onset, without other evidence of heart disease. In a series of 200 cases of diphtheritic myocarditis studied by electrocardiogram,⁶auricular fibrillation was found in six. In one there was transient auricular flutter,

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