endomyocarditis

We previously reported a natural antisense (AS) RNA as an important modulator of human interferon-Alpha1 ( IFNA1 ) mRNA levels. Here, we identified the guinea pig ( Cavia porcellus ) IFNA1 gene to enable a proof-of-concept experiment to be performed to confirm that the AS-mRNA regulatory axis exerts in vivo control over innate immunity. We selected a guinea pig model system for influenza virus infection because guinea pigs encode a functional Mx1 gene, an important anti-viral effector in the type I interferon pathway...

Endomyocarditis is a commonly detected post-mortem finding in domestic cats presenting for sudden onset cardiovascular death, yet the aetiology remains unresolved. Cats are documented reservoir hosts for Bartonella henselae, the infectious cause of cat scratch disease in man. Various Bartonella spp. have been associated with culture-negative endocarditis, myocarditis and sudden death in man and animals. We hypothesized that Bartonella spp. DNA could be amplified more often from the hearts of cats with feline endomyocarditis-left ventricular endocardial fibrosis (FEMC-LVEF) complex compared with cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or cats with grossly and microscopically unremarkable hearts (designated non-cardiac disease controls)...

"Krokodil" is a home-made opioid drug obtained by synthesizing desomorphine from codeine and combining it with other low-cost additives. Initially introduced in the former Soviet countries, it was then imported to Western Europe as a heroin substitute. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an Italian case of lethal krokodil abuse, that occurred in a 39-year-old man, who died suddenly after transportation to the Emergency Department (ED) for hyperthermia associated with sweating, dyspnoea and tachycardia...

Canine parvovirus-2 (CPV-2) is nearly indistinguishable from feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) and is a well-known cause of viral myocarditis in young puppies; however, it is not known whether either FPV or CPV-2 naturally infects feline cardiomyocytes and causes myocarditis. Endomyocarditis (EMC) and left ventricular endomyocardial fibrosis (LVEF), clinically known as "endomyocardial restrictive cardiomyopathy," are important feline heart diseases suspected to have an infectious etiology. A continuum is suggested with EMC representing the acute reaction to an unknown infectious agent and LVEF the chronic manifestation of repair...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA, previously named Churg-Strauss syndrome) is a form of necrotizing vasculitis occurring in patients with asthma and eosinophilia. Ischemic stroke is a relatively rare complication of the disease. We report a case of a 63-year-old woman with multiple embolic infarcts, hypereosinophilia (for >7 years), and skin rash. Elevated cardiac enzymes and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging were consistent with endomyocarditis. The simultaneous presence of history of asthma, sinusitis, hypereosinophilia, and vasculitis led to the diagnosis of EGPA...

BACKGROUND: The nosological nature of "idiopathic" arrhythmias and the effect of etiotropic and pathogenetic treatment are often unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: 19 patients (42.6±11.3 years, 9 women) with atrial fibrillation (n = 16), supraventricular (n = 10) and ventricular (n = 4) premature beats, supraventricular (n = 2) and ventricular tachycardia (n = 1), left bundle branch block (n= 2), AV block (n = 2) without structural heart changes. Viruses were identified (polymerase chain reaction, PCR) along with measurement of anti-heart antibodies (AHA) and endomyocardial biopsy (EMB)...

Loeffler endocarditis is a rare acquired endocardial and myocardial disease characterized by a sharp decrease in the compliance of either or both ventricles with an acute diastolic dysfunction and massive mural thrombosis. This disease is presented in the classification of cardiomyopathies and is a variant of restrictive cardiomyopathy. Today Loeffler endocarditis is considered as a manifestation of hypereosinophilic syndrome with predominant heart involvement. The life-time diagnosis of myocardial injury due to eosinophilic infiltration is rare, or it is diagnosed at the stage of necrotizing endomyocarditis, when the treatment is no longer effective...

Complications associated with Toxocara canis infection are rare. We present a case of a patient with Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis as a complication of an endomyocardial fibrosis caused by T canis . The epidemiological, pathological, and clinical features of this rare complication are described here.

This study reports pathological and molecular features in 41 cases of feline restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). Grossly, there were patchy or diffuse areas of endocardial thickening affecting the left ventricle. The more common patchy endocardial lesions occurred as large trabecular or irregular broad bands of fibrous tissue bridging the left ventricular free wall and ventricular septum. Microscopically, regardless of the gross pattern, the thickened endocardium contained various numbers of stellate, spindle-shaped or elongated mesenchymal cells surrounded by fibrous connective tissue...

Eosinophilic endomyocarditis is extremely rare in paediatrics. This case report aims to present the sequential changes from thrombotic to fibrotic stages of the cardiac involvement in a child with hypereosinophilic syndrome. Endomyocardial fibrosis progressively aggravated the severity of the mitral regurgitation. Bioprosthetic valve replacement was finally performed without recurrence of cardiac complications despite a late relapse of the underlying disease.

UNLABELLED: In this case, we herein have described a 72-year-old female patient with deep neck infection induced Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome with Loffler endocarditis characterized by right atrial thrombus and right ventricular fibrothrombotic obliteration within two months. KEY WORDS: Cardiac thrombi; Hypereosinophilic syndrome; Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) describes a disorder characterized by persistent peripheral blood eosinophilia with evidence of multiple target organs damage caused by eosinophilia. HES most commonly involves the heart, and cardiac involvement typically presents in the form of endomyocarditis or myocarditis with apical mural thrombus formation.We present a case with atypical cardiac presentation with massive intracardiac fragile thrombi, causing peripheral emboli and strokes.HES can present as floating thrombi with thin attachment to the left ventricle, and clinicians should also be vigilant of thromboembolic complications and initiate early therapy to prevent or reduce the potential complications of HES...

Background Eosinophilic endomyocarditis (EEM) is a rare diagnosis that is extremely uncommon in newborns. This case report aimed to present a case of neonatal mortality from acute cardiac failure due to EEM. Case Our report presents a term male neonate with minor complications in the immediate postnatal course, who was discharged at 48 hours of life, but who developed unexpected respiratory distress, followed by cardiac arrest and death at 3 days of life. One day after discharge, the infant developed respiratory distress and cool skin, and then developed cardiac arrest at the pediatrician's office, undergoing resuscitation with intravenous fluid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, epinephrine, atropine, and failed intubation...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy specimens from a 13-year-old boy with hypereosinophilia were studied by light and electron microscopy using the EG2 monoclonal antibody, which recognizes a common epitope of eosinophil cationic protein and eosinophil protein-X. Although the endocardial layer was of normal thickness, many eosinophils, mononuclear cells, and free eosinophil granules were observed in the endocardium and in the vicinity of degenerated myocardial cells. Under electron microscopy, many of the specific granules in and out of eosinophils had lost their crystalloid internae and displayed reversed density, and there were many degranulated eosinophils with reduced number of granules...

Loeffler endocarditis is a fibrous restrictive cardiomyopathy thought to be caused by persistent eosinophilia. It is difficult to diagnose, and the prognosis is often poor if the underlying eosinophilia is not promptly recognized and treated. We describe the case of a middle-aged woman treated for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy first detected during a routine check-up at age 35years but whose symptoms gradually progressed over the next 14years. Right ventricular biopsy showed extensive fibrosis of the endocardial tissue, and right heart catheterization revealed right heart failure and a low cardiac output state...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

UNLABELLED: Aim of the study was to elucidate nosological nature of "idiopathic" arrhythmias by means of right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) and to assess effect of etiotropic and pathogenetic treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included into this study 19 patients (mean age 42.6 +/-11.3 years, 9 women) with atrial fibrillation (AF, n = 16), supraventricular (n = 10) and ventricular (n = 4) extrasystoles (SVE and VE), supraventricular (n = 2) and ventricular (n = 1) tachycardia (SVT and VT), left bundle branch block (LBBB, n = 2), atrioventricular block (n = 2) without structural changes of the heart...

Cardiac involvement in Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) is a major cause of mortality. Here we report a case of a 75-year-old woman with eosinophilic endomyocarditis due to CSS. An electrocardiogram showed intraventricular conduction delay, and echocardiography showed an impaired relaxation pattern and biventricular apical thickening. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed subendocardial delayed enhancement with biventricular apical thrombi. Endomyocardial biopsy showed perivascular eosinophilic infiltration. Despite resolution of the hypereosinophilia after steroid therapy, her left ventricular (LV) diastolic function worsened into a restrictive pattern and she died with a ventricular escape rhythm on her 14th day in the hospital...