Focal right atrial dysplasia and atrial flutter in a patient with myotonic dystrophy

Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 1989 Aug;12(8):1317-23. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1989.tb05045.x.

Abstract

Focal dysplasia of the right atrium was identified postmortem in a 22-year-old man with myotonic dystrophy and sudden death. Antemortem cardiac abnormalities included a single syncopal episode associated with atrial flutter with exercise-induced 1:1 atrioventricular conduction, sinus node dysfunction, and mild mitral valve prolapse. Pathologically there was only mild conduction system disease and the ventricular myocardium was normal. Right atrial dysplasia, previously unreported in myotonic dystrophy, appears to have been an arrhythmogenic lesion in this patient, serving as a morphological substrate for reentry.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Atrial Flutter / etiology*
  • Atrial Flutter / pathology
  • Heart Atria / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Myocardium / pathology
  • Myotonic Dystrophy / complications*
  • Myotonic Dystrophy / pathology