Cor Vasa 2007, 49(11):426-430 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2007.145

Inflammatory cardiomyopathy secondary to borrelia infection, without a systemic serologic response

Petr Kuchynka¹, Tomáš Paleček¹, Stanislav Šimek¹, Dagmar Hulínská², Sudheera Magage¹, Gabriela Dostálová¹, Štěpán Havránek¹, Aleš Linhart¹

¹ II. interní klinika kardiologie a angiologie, Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice a 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy

² Národní referenční laboratoř pro Lymeskou borreliózu, Státní zdravotní ústav, Praha, Česká republika

Lyme carditis is the term used for cardiac involvement caused by infection by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease manifestations include mostly arrhythmias, with pericarditis or myocardial dysfunction being less common. The authors describe a case of Lyme cardiomyopathy with severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction. The final diagnosis was based solely on endomyocardial biopsy as the serological examination did not reveal any presence of specific antibodies against Borrelia. Subsequent antibiotic therapy with cephalosporins led to complete normalization of left ventricular systolic function. This case underlines the significance of performing endomyocardial biopsy in patients with suspected inflammatory cardiomyopathy.

Keywords: Lyme disease; Inflammatory cardiomyopathy; Endomyocardial biopsy

Published: November 1, 2007  Show citation