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Case Reports
. 2025 Jan-Dec:13:23247096251357749.
doi: 10.1177/23247096251357749. Epub 2025 Jul 14.

Polymyositis-Induced Atrial Flutter: A Rare and Unexpected Arrhythmia in an Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy

Arun Katwaroo  1 , Matthew Maharaj  2 , Priya Ramcharan  2 , Valmiki Seecheran  2 , Dayna Lalchansingh  2 , Rajeev Seecheran  3 , Avidesh Panday  2 , Naveen Seecheran  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Polymyositis-Induced Atrial Flutter: A Rare and Unexpected Arrhythmia in an Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy

Arun Katwaroo et al. J Investig Med High Impact Case Rep. 2025 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

We describe a 28-year-old Caribbean-Black female with polymyositis-associated atrial flutter during an acute flare episode for which she was successfully managed with guideline-directed medical therapy and noninvasive positive pressure ventilation. The clinician should be cognizant of this rare association, especially in young patients who present with symptomatic arrhythmias and chronic, preexisting idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.

Keywords: arrhythmia; atrial flutter (AFL); idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs); polymyositis (PM).

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

12-lead ECGs showing AFL with flutter waves and post cardioversion sinus tachycardia.
Figure 1.
The patient’s 12-lead ECGs. (A) The patient’s admission ECG demonstrated typical AFL with classic negative sawtooth “flutter waves” in the inferior leads. (B) The patient’s postpharmacologic cardioversion ECG demonstrates sinus tachycardia with subtle nonspecific ST-T changes. AFL, atrial flutter; ECGs, electrocardiograms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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