Hemochromatosis may rarely produce second degree or third degree atrioventricular (A-V) block. To the best of our knowledge, this report describes the first such instance in which a permanent cardiac pacemaker was inserted in a patient with hemochromatosis.
Patient Summary
A 32-year-old white man entered the Long Beach (Calif) Veterans Administration Hospital in November 1965. The patient had noticed diffuse pigmentation of his skin since age 12. He had never had any chest hair and his facial, axillary, and pubic hair had always been sparse. At age 30, he experienced two episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, one of which lasted 3 and the other about 20 hours. One year later, he again had two episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, each lasting about one day.The patient's mother died at age 68 of cancer of the colon. His father, age 77, has a serum iron value of 96μg/100 cc and an