Author/Editor		Vesel, S; Završnik, T; Podnar, T
Title		Successful outcome in a fetus with an extremely low heart rate due to isolated complete congenital heart block
Type		članek
Source		Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol
Vol. and No.		Letnik 21
Publication year		2003
Volume		str. 189-91
Language		eng
Abstract		Isolated complete congenital heart block (CCHB) in a fetrrs is usually associated with the presence of autoaratibodies to SSA (Ro) and SSB (La) antigens in the maternal circulation. Altbough the prognosis for the majority of fetuses is good, it is less favorable in fetuses with a ventricular rate < SS bpm in early pregnancy or with a decrease in the ventricular rate by >_ 5 bhm during pregnancy. It is not known i f the same prognostic criteria apply for the occasional fetus with isolated non-autoimmune CCHB. We report a case of a single fetass with an isolated non-autoimmune CCHB avith an extremely low ventricular rate (37 bpm) in which the outcome was favorable. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a rare cornplication in patients with isolated CCHB, deshite early institution o f cardiac pacing, and is usually recognized after several months of relative well-being. It is assumed that in the majority o f patients it represents a sequel to in utero autoimmune or postnatal reactivation myocarditis. However, the possibility o f a tachycardiainduced cardiomyopathy caused by an excessively high pacing rate should also be taken into consideration, as was clearly demonstrated in our patient.
Descriptors		FETAL DISEASES BRADYCARDIA CARDIOMYOPATHY, CONGESTIVE CARDIAC PACING, ARTIFICIAL TACHYCARDIA INFANT, NEWBORN AUTOANTIBODIES PREGNANCY ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, TRANSESOPHAGEAL ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY TREATMENT OUTCOME