TY - JOUR T1 - Congenital Heart Block Not Associated with Anti-Ro/La Antibodies: Comparison with Anti-Ro/La-positive Cases JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.080737 SP - jrheum.080737 AU - Antonio Brucato AU - Chiara Grava AU - Maria Bortolati AU - Keigo Ikeda AU - Ornella Milanesi AU - Rolando Cimaz AU - Veronique Ramoni AU - Gabriele Vignati AU - Stefano Martinelli AU - Youcef Sadou AU - Adele Borghi AU - Angela Tincani AU - Edward K.L. Chan AU - Amelia Ruffatti Y1 - 2009/06/30 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2009/06/27/jrheum.080737.abstract N2 - Objective To study anti-Ro/La-negative congenital heart block (CHB). Methods Forty-five fetuses with CHB were evaluated by analysis of anti-Ro/La antibodies using sensitive laboratory methods. Results There were 9 cases of anti-Ro/La-negative CHB; 3 died (33.3%). Only 3 (33.3%) were complete in utero and 5 (55.5%) were unstable. No specific etiology was diagnosed. Six infants (66.6%) were given pacemakers. There were 36 cases of anti-Ro/La-positive CHB. All except 2 infants (94.4%) had complete atrioventricular block in utero. Ten died (27.8%), one (2.7%) developed severe dilated cardiomyopathy, and 26 (72.2%) were given pacemakers. Conclusion Nine of the 45 consecutive CHB cases (20%) were anti-Ro/La-negative with no known cause. They were less stable and complete than the anti-Ro/La positive cases. ER -