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Bundle Branch Block after Myocardial Infarction—A Long Term Follow‐up *
Author(s) -
Woo K. S.,
Norris R. M.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0004-8291
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1979.tb04169.x
Subject(s) - medicine , myocardial infarction , cardiology , right bundle branch block , bundle branch block , infarction , heart block , left bundle branch block , electrocardiography , heart failure
Summary: Bundle branch block after myocardial infarction‐a long term follow‐up. K. S. Woo and R. M. Norris. Aust. N.Z. J. Med., 1979,9, pp. 411–416. Fifty‐two patients with myocardial infarction complicated by bundle branch block (27 RBBB and 25 LBBB) survived the hospital period (1967–1972), and were followed up to December 1976. Actuarial survival curves revealed a worse mortality up to five years (P < 0·05) for LBBB (68%) than for RBBB (33%). All deaths occurred in the first four years. In RBBB, additional hemiblock (seven patients) did not increase the risk of heart block nor worsen the prognosis—one death in seven patients (14%) compared to eight in 20 patients with isolated RBBB (40%). The previous literature on long term survival of BBB was reviewed. Recommended treatment for BBB, a marker of severe myocardial damage, includes antiarrhythmic prophylaxis for anteroseptal infarction with RBBB, aneurysmectomy in selected subsets of patients, and possibly prevention of RBBB or its complications by treatment for reduction of infaret size during the very early phase after onset of infarction.