First-degree Atrioventricular Heart Block

Anesthesia Implications

Anesthesia Implications

Drugs – drugs that increase vagal tone (ie. Neostigmine) should be avoided. Drugs that slow AV conduction should be avoided.

Conduct a thorough health history – this particular condition doesn’t warrant a lot of concern, but may give some indication of underlying conditions that do warrant more caution (see the pathophysiology section), so conduct a thorough health history.

Pathophysiology

This condition is characterized by a prolonged PR interval > 200 ms.

This condition is often developed as a result of the normal degenerative changes of increasing age.

Other causes include myocardial infarction, drugs that affect AV conduction (amiodarone and digitalis), and drugs that increase vagal/parasympathetic tone.

This condition is often present prior to the onset of the clinical symptoms of myotonia dystrophica.

References

Hines. Stoelting’s anesthesia and co-existing disease. 7th edition. 2018. p. 154