Maternal Connective Tissue Disease and Congenital Heart

Block Demonstration of Immunoglobulin in Cardiac Tissue

Stephen E. Litsey, B.S., Jacqueline A. Noonan, M.D., William N. O'Connor, M.D., Carol M. Cottrill, M.D., and Bonnie
Mitchell, M.D.
N Engl J Med 1985; 312:98-100January 10, 1985DOI: 10.1056/NEJM198501103120206
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This article has no abstract; the first 100 words appear below.
A RECENT report by Scott et al. described antibodies to a soluble tissue ribonucleoprotein antigen called
Ro(SS-A) in the serum of 34 of 41 mothers who had given birth to infants with congenital complete heart
block.1 Less than half the mothers had clinical evidence of connective tissue disease. The same antibody
was found in 7 of 8 serum samples collected from affected infants under three months of age but in none of
13 samples obtained from older infants. The authors suggested that maternal antibody to Ro(SS-A) might
serve as a marker to identify women at risk of having an infant . . .

SOURCE INFORMATION
From the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Medical Center,
Lexington. Address reprint requests to Dr. Noonan at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky, MN466
Medical Center, 800 Rose St., Lexington, KY 405360084.