Right Bundle-Branch Block and Prognosis

Excerpt

To the editor: The Coronary Drug Project Research Group paper (1) deserves comment on the statement that complete right bundle-branch block in a postinfarction ECG has no significant prognostic value. The concept that right bundle-branch block is a benign conduction disturbance with no appreciable mortality seems no longer tenable. In a review of 480 cases of acute myocardial infarction Scheinman and Brenman (2) found that 3.7% had right bundle-branch block with a normal QRS axis. Norris, Mercer, and Croxson (3) report the cumulative incidence of isolated right bundle-branch block as 2.1% for 1440 cases of anteroseptal myocardial infarction. Table 1