[Arrhythmias in mitral prolapse patients]

An ECG at rest, a cycloergometric exertion test and a 24 hour dynamic ECG were conducted on 16 patients with mitral prolapses in order to reveal the incidence of arrhythmias. High grade ventricular arrhythmias (3, 4a, 4b) were observed in 5 patients (31%), and minor arrhythmias (grades 1 and 2) in 7 (44%), while 4 patients (25%) showed no ventricular arrhythmia. Complex supraventricular arrhythmias were recorded in 2 patients (12.5%) extrasystolic supraventricular arrhythmias in 5 (31%). In all cases, the dynamic ECG was shown to be significantly more sensitive to the presence of arrhythmias. There was found to be little correlation between symptoms reported by the patients and arrhythmia identified.