Cor Vasa 2009, 51(1):32-37 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2009.009

Inflammatory cardiomyopathy: current concepts regarding its diagnosis and treatment

Petr Kuchynka¹, Tomáš Paleček^1,*, Stanislav Šimek¹, Ivana Vítková², Jana Schramlová³, Dagmar Hulínská³, Viktor Aster⁴, Gabriela Dostálová¹, Sudheera Magage¹, Michael Aschermann¹, Aleš Linhart¹

¹ II. interní klinika kardiologie a angiologie

² Ústav patologie, Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice a 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy

³ Státní zdravotní ústav

⁴ III. klinika infekčních a tropických nemocí, Fakultní nemocnice Na Bulovce a 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, Praha, Česká republika

Inflammatory cardiomyopathy is a term used for myocarditis associated with left ventricular dysfunction. There are many infectious and non-infectious causes of this disease with viral infection being the most common. In order to definitely establish the diagnosis of inflammatory cardiomyopathy, endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) has to be performed. To obtain appropriate diagnostic information, detailed assessment of EMB including histopathological, immunohistochemical and microbiological evaluation should be performed. The results of EMB specimens processed in such a manner may consequently have an impact on the therapeutic strategy in inflammatory cardiomyopathy, when immunosuppressive, antimicrobial or immunomodulatory treatment may be added to conventional therapy.

Keywords: Inflammatory cardiomyopathy; Myocarditis; Endomyocardial biopsy

Published: January 1, 2009  Show citation