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Aberrated supraventricular tachycardia associated with neonatal fever and COVID-19 infection
  1. Kali A Hopkins1 and
  2. Gregory Webster2
  1. 1Department of Paediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  2. 2Division of Cardiology, Ann and Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kali A Hopkins; kahopkins{at}luriechildrens.org

Abstract

A 9-day-old girl presented during the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in wide-complex tachycardia with acute, symptomatic COVID-19 infection. Because the potential cardiac complications of COVID-19 were unknown at the time of her presentation, we chose to avoid the potential risks of haemodynamic collapse associated with afterload reduction from adenosine. Instead, a transoesophageal pacing catheter was placed. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) with an aberrated QRS morphology was diagnosed and the catheter was used to pace-terminate tachycardia. This presentation illustrates that the haemodynamic consequences of a concurrent infection with largely unknown neonatal sequelae present a potentially high-risk situation for pharmacologic conversion. Oesophageal cannulation can be used to diagnose and terminate infantile SVT.

  • arrhythmias
  • pacing and electrophysiology
  • COVID-19
  • paediatrics

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Footnotes

  • Contributors Both authors contributed to the conception of the work, drafting and critically revising of the report and have approved the final version of the draft submitted. Both authors are in agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

  • Funding This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (K23HL13055).

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.