A rare case of native mitral valve infective endocarditis presenting with complete heart block and intermittent atrial flutter.

Mitral valve infective endocarditis, without aortic involvement, is a rare cause of complete heart block. It is thought that infections placed close to the conductive system of the heart may drive a conduction block. We found six cases in the literature, via searching PubMed, of mitral valve infective endocarditis with complete heart block and no aortic involvement. We report a case of complete heart block with a junctional escape rhythm in a patient with a Staphylococcus Aureus vegetation on a native mitral valve only.

Journey to the center of the heart: Bilateral absent superior vena cava with heart block.

Bilaterally absent superior vena cava (SVC) is extremely rare anomaly with a few case reports in the literature. Without associated congenital cardiac disease, these anomalies are asymptomatic. This report describes an adult patient with bilaterally absent SVC presenting with Mobitz type II heart block and a structurally normal heart.