Exercise-associated cardiac asystole in persons without structural heart disease

Chest. 1995 Feb;107(2):572-6. doi: 10.1378/chest.107.2.572.

Abstract

Exercise-associated cardiac asystole (EACA) in patients without structural heart disease is uncommonly encountered. Two patients who developed prolonged asystolic arrest associated with exercise are described; both demonstrated a positive head-up tilt table response, absence of underlying heart disease, and a history of vagotonia. A review of this condition in the literature suggests the occurrence of this syndrome of EACA in young men with atheletic inclination who developed syncope usually after a strenuous exercise at a high heart rate. Although the described patients usually responded by avoiding maximal exercise and the use of beta-blockade, vagolytic agent, and permanent pacing, EACA may be the link for some cases of exercise-related asystolic deaths.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Electrocardiography
  • Exercise Test
  • Exercise*
  • Female
  • Heart Arrest / diagnosis
  • Heart Arrest / etiology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Syncope / etiology
  • Tilt-Table Test