RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Pathogenesis and diagnosis of myocarditis
JF Heart
JO Heart
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Cardiovascular Society
SP 835
OP 840
DO 10.1136/heartjnl-2012-301686
VO 98
IS 11
A1 Chantal Elamm
A1 DeLisa Fairweather
A1 Leslie T Cooper
YR 2012
UL http://heart.bmj.com/content/98/11/835.abstract
AB Acute myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the heart muscle that may progress to dilated cardiomyopathy and chronic heart failure. A number of factors including the sex hormone testosterone, components of innate immunity, and profibrotic cytokines have been identified in animal models as important pathogenic mechanisms that increase inflammation and susceptibility to chronic dilated cardiomyopathy. The clinical presentation of acute myocarditis is non-specific and mimics more common causes of heart failure and arrhythmias. Suspected myocarditis is currently confirmed using advanced non-invasive imaging and histopathologic examination of heart tissue. However, the diverse presentations of myocarditis and the lack of widely available, safe, and accurate non-invasive diagnostic tests remain major obstacles to early diagnosis and population based research. Recent advances in the understanding of disease pathogenesis described in this review should lead to more accurate diagnostic algorithms and non-invasive tests.