Complete heart block, prosthetic aortic valve, and successful pregnancy.

Abstract

To the Editor.— In 1914, Nanta 1 reported the first case of acquired complete heart block in pregnancy and, in 1927, Laubry 2 reported the first case of congenital complete heart block in pregnancy. Since then numerous cases, both acquired and congenital, have been reported. In 1966, Ueland et al 3 described the first cases of pregnancy occurring in patients with intracardiac prosthetic valves. Thereafter, other reports followed of pregnancy in patients with aortic or mitral prosthesis or both. The following case records successful pregnancy in a patient with both congenital complete heart block and an aortic prosthetic valve. Report of a Case.— A 26-year-old white woman was the product of a normal pregnancy and delivery. A heart murmur and a slow heart rate were noted shortly after birth, when an electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed complete heart block. She was asymptomatic until 17 years of age, when shortness of breath and