Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Echocardiographic Evaluation of Atrial Communications before Transcatheter Closure
Published on: February 8, 2022
Intra-Hisian Wenckebach after surgical closure of conoventricular ventricular septal defect
Kathryn H Schwartzman1, Christopher E Mascio2, Dhaval Chauhan2
1West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
Abstract:
We report a 5-year-old girl with transient complete atrioventricular (AV) block following surgical closure of a symptomatic conoventricular ventricular septal defect (VSD) which recovered on post-operative day 9. She later presented with exertional dizziness and fatigue. While congenital cardiac defect repairs are occasionally complicated by complete heart block, this patient was found to have intra-Hisian Wenckebach which is rare in the pediatric population and can be very difficult to discern from surface electrocardiograms and by Holter monitoring. Mechanisms of post-surgical AV block, including intra-Hisian Wenckebach, are not well characterized in the pediatric population.

