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Case Reports
. 2021 Jan;23(1):27-30.
doi: 10.1016/j.jccase.2020.08.006. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

A case of complete heart block in a COVID-19 infected patient

Faris I Haddadin  1 , Tala Eneizat Mahdawi  2 , Laith Hattar  2 , Hassan Beydoun  1 , Farah Fram  3 , Munther Homoud  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

A case of complete heart block in a COVID-19 infected patient

Faris I Haddadin et al. J Cardiol Cases. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we herein report the case of an elderly female with multiple comorbidities coming with typical symptoms of the viral infection in addition to the unusual presentation of bradycardia due to complete heart block requiring pacemaker placement. This may be a rare complication of the disease but one has to keep a high index of suspicion since this virus has an ability to affect multiple organ systems with many ways yet to be uncovered. <Learning objective: 1. COVID-19 might affect the conduction system of the heart as part of its disease process. 2. Future studies are needed to address the mechanism of which COVID-19 affects the conduction system to improve the recognition of this phenomenon. 3. It is pertinent to recognize any metabolic and pharmacological risk factors related to conduction block in patients with COVID-19, and to provide close monitoring to high-risk patients in order to recognize this rare complication and treat it early on.>.

Keywords: Bradycardia; COVID-19; Complete heart block.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Complete heart block with junctional escape ventricular rhythm at a rate of 42 BPM and a dissociated atrial rate at 100 BPM (blue arrows).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Previous electrocardiogram for the same patient before COVID-19 infection demonstrating normal sinus rhythm at a rate of 98 BPM.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Follow-up electrocardiogram after one month of discharge demonstrating atrial-sensed and ventricular-paced rhythm at 90 BPM.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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