Scleroderma-heart and conduction disturbances.

Disturbances of impulse formation and conduction may arise in the early stage of scleroderma, as a sign of cardiac involvement, termed "scleroderma heart". The incidence of various intraventricular conduction disturbances and their association with other disorders of cardiac rhythm were analysed in 193 scleroderma-patients by age. The presence of ventricular conduction abnormalities was found to carry an increased hazard of the production of disorders of atrioventricular conduction and of abnormal impulse formation. The patients were also followed up for deviation of the R axis in the frontal plane. Septal hypertrophy was found more frequently in patients with intraventricular conduction disturbances than in those free from disorders of this type.