The heart in myotonia atrophica

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Abstract
Three hundred cases of myotonia atrophica from the literature and 17 cases seen at University Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle, were reviewed concerning the cardiovascular system. Both groups showed that the heart is rarely involved sufficiently to cause cardio-vascular symptoms or signs. If cardiac symptoms occurred, they were generally associated with cardiac arrhythmias. Positive physical findings were nonspecific, although a pulse below 60 beats/min. may be significant. If there is cardiomegaly on physical examination, it is shown by X-ray film to be generalized rather than localized to a specific chamber. In contradistinction to the incidence of clinically significant heart disease, ecg alterations are very frequently encountered. The most common abnormality on the ecg is a disturbance in atrioven-tricular conduction.