Acute rheumatic fever presenting as complete heart block: report of an adolescent case and review of literature

A 14-year-old boy suffering from chronic rheumatic heart disease came to the emergency department with recurrent episodes of presyncope and syncope. He was found to have complete heart block (CHB) and required temporary pacemaker insertion. Further workup revealed that CHB was secondary to acute rheumatic carditis. His atrioventricular (AV) conduction abnormalities recovered in a stepwise fashion over 5 days while he was being treated with corticosteroids, without the need for permanent pacemaker insertion. This case illustrates that acute rheumatic carditis can rarely present with advanced AV conduction block, which may be reversible.

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