Sarcoidosis associated with complete heart block.

The association between sarcoidosis and complete heart block was explored by a register study, a description of 9 own cases and a survey of 48 cases collected from the literature. Incidences were calculated from statistics of hospital in-patient diagnoses in a Swedish county over a 13-year period. Strong association was found between the two conditions, with significantly higher risk (RR = 16.7, P less than 0.001) of heart block in sarcoidosis patients than in the general population. Pacemaker management is often complicated in patients with sarcoidosis. The association should be kept in mind when dealing with patients presenting with sarcoidosis or complete heart block.