Key result
A 19-year-old man with complete heart block secondary to acute viral myocarditis fully recovered with normal sinus rhythm after 5 days of medical management and close monitoring.
Why the study?
Acute myocarditis represents a challenging diagnosis without pathognomonic presentation, and heart block is rare as the first-and-only presentation of infectious myocarditis.
Case Report (n=1)
No
Infectious myocarditis is a rare but reversible cause of complete heart block in young healthy patients that should be ruled out before proceeding with permanent pacemaker implantation.
May support excluding infectious myocarditis before permanent pacing in young patients with heart block; leaves open need for confirmatory data.
Acute myocarditis represents a challenging diagnosis as there is no pathognomonic clinical presentation. It is rare to see heart block as the first-and-only presentation of infectious myocarditis. We report the case of a young healthy patient who presented with syncope secondary to a complete heart block. It was caused by acute presumed viral myocarditis. The diagnosis was confirmed with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. With close monitoring, the EKG abnormalities resolved over the following 5 days. In this case report, we present the importance of several imaging tools to diagnose a rare and reversible cause of conduction disturbances. In at-risk individuals, clinicians should rule out a treatable cause of heart block before proceeding with permanent pacemaker implantation due to enormous clinical and cost implications involved.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Charfeddine et al. (2020) conducted a case report in Complete heart block secondary to acute myocarditis (n=1). Medical management and close monitoring was evaluated on Resolution of EKG abnormalities and clinical recovery. A 19-year-old man with complete heart block secondary to acute viral myocarditis fully recovered with normal sinus rhythm after 5 days of medical management and close monitoring.
Synapse has enriched 4 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: