Abstract: The term “acute isolated myocarditis,” now used instead of “acute primary myocarditis,” should designate a disease in which inflammation of the myocardium is the only important active acute lesion in the body. The disease may be due to actual infection of the myocardium, or, as in experimental animals and very probably in man, to the effect of chemical action alone or chemical and other factors acting simultaneously on the heart. In some cases the etiology remains obscure, hence the term “idiopathic.” The disease regularly runs its full course without being recognized, despite the fact that it has been periodically considered and quite well defined in the foreign medical literature during the past thirty-six years. It is only recently that a few reports have appeared in the American literature. Our recent experience with a case prompted us to make a survey of the literature, from which we learned that there is a group of symptoms which seem distinctive. Our survey was extended to include the various chemicals used singly or in combination in the experimental production of acute myocarditis. We wished to know particularly whether experimental myocarditis paralleled acute isolated myocarditis in severity of injury and reaction. Our own case afforded an unusually good opportunity to study the development of the myocardial lesions. By reporting it, and summarizing the important clinical and pathologic characteristics of all the cases in the literature, we hope to facilitate the diagnosis of this elusive disease.
Publication Year: 1938
Publication Date: 1938-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 22
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