Supraventricular tachycardia associated with a clinically isolated demyelinating syndrome.

Ion channels are essential to a wide range of physiological functions including neuronal signaling, muscle contraction, cardiac pacemaking, hormone secretion and cell proliferation. Linking ion-channel gene mutations to inherited disorders has been described. Ankyrins are intracellular proteins required for the biogenesis and maintenance of membrane domains in both excitable and non-excitable cells. Dysfunction in ankyrin-based pathways seems to link abnormalities in vertebrate physiology including ataxia, axonal degeneration and arrhythmias. Analyzing the evolution of the autonomic disturbances in the demyelinating syndromes, the early onset of arrhythmias has been described. We present a case of supraventricular tachycardia in a 45-year-old Italian woman with a clinically isolated demyelinating syndrome. Also this case focuses attention on the presence of arrhythmias in the demyelinating syndromes.