Asystole following treadmill exercise in a man without organic heart disease

A 52-year-old man without evidence of organic heart disease by clinical and extensive noninvasive examination experienced an 11-s episode of asystole ten minutes after completing a maximal treadmill test. Four years previously, symptomatic sinus bradycardia and hypotension had also followed cessation of treadmill exercise. This case illustrates that vagally mediated complications of treadmill exercise occurring in persons without apparent heart disease may be potentially life-threatening and can be elicited on repeated testing.