Transient Third-degree Heart Block Secondary to Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection

Aleem Azal Ali^1, , Naji Maaliki¹, Michael Omar¹, Amy Roemer¹, Jose Ruiz² and Khadeeja Esmail²

¹Internal Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine- Jacksonville

²Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine- Jacksonville

Cite this paper

Aleem Azal Ali, Naji Maaliki, Michael Omar, Amy Roemer, Jose Ruiz and Khadeeja Esmail. Transient Third-degree Heart Block Secondary to Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2021; 9(4):259-260. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-9-4-13

Abstract

COVID-19 predominantly affects the lungs manifesting as respiratory illnesses including pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Cardiac manifestations are also being increasingly reported such as pericardial disease, myocardial injury and dysfunction, arrhythmias and conduction abnormalities. A 70-year-old male with asymptomatic COVID-19 infection developed a transient episode of complete heart block just prior to his planned discharge from hospital. There are only few case reports purporting the development of a transient complete heart block in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 infection. However, to date, this is the first report of incidentally detected, asymptomatic COVID-19 infection manifesting as third degree heart block.

Keywords

Coronavirus, complete heart block, arrhythmia, COVID-19 myocardial injury

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	Clerkin KJ, Fried JA, Raikhelkar J, et al. COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation. 2020; 141(20): 1648-55.
[2]	Bansal M. Cardiovascular disease and COVID-19. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020; 14(3): 247-50.
[3]	Oudit GY, Kassiri Z, Jiang C, et al. SARS-coronavirus modulation of myocardial ACE2 expression and inflammation in patients with SARS. Eur J Clin Invest. 2009; 39(7): 618-25.
[4]	Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, et al. Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA. 2020; 323(11): 1061-69.
[5]	Deng Q, Hu B, Zhang Y, et al. Suspected myocardial injury in patients with COVID-19: Evidence from front-line clinical observation in Wuhan, China. Int J Cardiol. 2020; 311: 116-21.
[6]	Eneizat Mahdawi T, Wang H, Haddadin FI, Al-Qaysi D, Wylie JV. Heart block in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A case series of 3 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. HeartRhythm Case Rep. 2020; 6(9): 652-56.
[7]	Azarkish M, Laleh Far V, Eslami M, Mollazadeh R. Transient complete heart block in a patient with critical COVID-19. Eur Heart J. 2020; 41(22): 2131.
[8]	Kochav SM, Coromilas E, Nalbandian A, et al. Cardiac Arrhythmias in COVID-19 Infection. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2020; 13(6): e008719.
[9]	Kir D, Mohan C, Sancassani R. Heart Brake: An Unusual Cardiac Manifestation of COVID-19. JACC Case Rep. 2020; 2(9): 1252-55.