• Vol. 28 No. 3, 455–458
  • 15 May 1999

T Wave Alternans and Acute Rheumatic Myocarditis: A Case Report

ABSTRACT

T wave alternans is an uncommonly recorded cardiac rhythm. We report here an unusual case of a 13-year-old girl with acute rheumatic carditis and acute nephritis, who developed T wave alternans associated with a prolonged QT interval.

These electrocardiographic changes were evident only after the initial acute stage of the disease process and should be borne in mind for patients with acute rheumatic carditis as they may be associated with more malignant arrhythmias.


T wave alternans, an electrical cardiac alternans in which there is a beat-to-beat variation in the amplitude, shape or the polarity of the T wave during sinus rhythm without any changes in the QRS complex, is an uncommonly recorded rhythm. We report here an unusual case of T wave alternans developing in a patient with acute rheumatic fever and myocarditis.

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