Maternal Connective Tissue Disease and Congenital Heart Block

Abstract

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 . . .