Key result
Previously healthy adolescent with right lower quadrant abdominal pain develops spontaneously resolving new-onset AFib.
Why the study?
AF is exceedingly uncommon in otherwise healthy pediatric individuals without structural heart disease or known genetic predisposition.
Case Report (n=1)
New-onset atrial fibrillation can rarely present as a pain response in otherwise healthy pediatric patients, though comprehensive evaluation remains necessary to exclude underlying pathology.
New-onset AF may occur in healthy adolescents with abdominal pain; single case leaves open any causal link or monitoring implications.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a rare cardiac rhythm disturbance in the pediatric population. It is exceedingly uncommon in otherwise healthy individuals without structural heart disease or known genetic predisposition. This case describes rate-controlled AF in a previously healthy adolescent presenting to the emergency department with one week of right lower quadrant abdominal pain and associated nausea. The patient subsequently spontaneously converted to normal sinus rhythm, underwent an unremarkable cardiac evaluation at a tertiary care center, and was discharged home in excellent condition. Despite the patient’s benign course in this instance, new-onset AF in pediatric patients should always warrant admission and comprehensive evaluation to exclude underlying pathology.
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Trunzo et al. (2026) conducted a case report in Atrial fibrillation (n=1). A previously healthy adolescent with right lower quadrant abdominal pain developed new-onset rate-controlled atrial fibrillation that spontaneously converted to normal sinus rhythm.
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