Ventricular tachycardia--an unusual presenting symptom of scleroderma.

Since the earliest description of cardiac involvement in scleroderma by Heine (1926) and the subsequent emphasis on scleroderma heart disease by Weiss et al. (I943), a number of publications concerning the clinical features and pathological changes in this disease have appeared. The electrocardiographic abnormalities with or without clinical evidence of cardiac involvement in scleroderma have been reviewed in detail by Windesheim and Parkin (I958) and Escudero and McDevitt (I958). There is, however, no mention in these reports of the occurrence of ventricular tachycardia in scleroderma. We are now reporting a case of scleroderma which came under observation because of an episode of ventricular tachycardia.