[Atrioventricular blocks and rheumatoid arthritis]

Among 379 hospitalized cases of rheumatoid polyarthritis, 12 auriculo-ventricular blocks were detected between 1965 and 1975. The formation of a complete AV block is usually preceded by a branch block or a first degree block. During the installation of a pacemaker, hypoexcitability was usually noted. Four of the patients died. In the other 8 the evolution has been satisfactory over periods from 6 months to 4 years. Conduction disturbances were found in cases of polyarthritis of 10 years duration on the average. The articular lesions were normally diffuse with considerable lesions detectable radiologically. In many cases the frequency of extra-articular lesions indicated the severity of the rheumatic disease. From the anatomical point of view, histological lesions of rheumatoid polyarthritis were found : granuloma and arteritis in the myocardium. Only 8 authors have previously reported lesions of the donducting vessels at autopsies carried out on rheumatoid polyarthritis cases who had presented AV blocks. Except for Thery's case related to amylosis of the nodal tissue, rheumatoid granulomas occupied the whole or part of the nodal tissue. In elderly subjects suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, it was difficult to establish a strictly rheumatoid origin for the AV blocks observed, unless specific granulomas were discovered anatomically in the nodal tissue.