Myocarditis overview
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor-In-Chief: Varun Kumar, M.B.B.S.
Overview
Myocarditis is inflammation of the myocardium. It may present with chest pain, ST segment elevation, elevated biomarkers of myonecrosis, heart failure, and / or sudden death.
Classification
Myocarditis can be classified clinicopathologically into Fulminant myocarditis, Acute myocarditis, Chronic active myocarditis and Chronic persistent myocarditis.
Pathophysiology
During either an infection or a hypersensitivity reaction, the inflammatory response may cause myonecrosis either directly or indirectly as part of an autoimmune reaction.
Causes
The cause of myocarditis may be infectious or non-infectious. The idiopathic myocarditis is the most common type of myocarditis and is often suspected to be secondary to viral infection[1].
Giant Cell Myocarditis
Giant cell myocarditis is a rare but often fatal inflammatory process involving the myocardium. Other than cardiac transplantation, there is no known effective treatment for giant cell mycoarditis.
Differentiating Myocarditis from other Diseases
Myocarditis presents with chest pain and ST segment elevation. Myocardits must be distinguished from pericarditis and the life threatening condition of ST elevation myocardial infarction.
References
- ↑ Kühl U, Pauschinger M, Noutsias M, Seeberg B, Bock T, Lassner D; et al. (2005). "High prevalence of viral genomes and multiple viral infections in the myocardium of adults with "idiopathic" left ventricular dysfunction". Circulation. 111 (7): 887–93. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000155616.07901.35. PMID 15699250.