Myocarditis

Myocarditis is an acute or chronic inflammation of the heart muscle.

Myocarditis can be caused by infectious (viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoal) and non-infectious causes. Non-infectious causes include drug toxicity, radiation, and autoimmune diseases.

Main symptoms of myocarditis:

1. chest pain;
2. palpitations, rhythm disturbances;
3. weakness, fatigue;
4. shortness of breath, swelling in the legs.

Diagnosis of myocarditis is based on analysis of the clinical picture, ECG data, echocardiography, cardiac MRI, biochemical blood test (increased troponin levels, CPK-MB), and in some cases, myocardial biopsy.

Treatment of myocarditis is aimed at eliminating the cause of the disease, relieving heart failure and rhythm disturbances. The prognosis depends on the severity of myocardial damage and the development of complications.

Myocarditis is acute or chronic inflammation of the heart muscle. Myocarditis can occur in humans alone or in combination with pancarditis (inflammation of the entire heart, including the endocardium, myocardium and pericardium).

The causes of myocarditis can be infectious (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic) or non-infectious (toxic, allergic, autoimmune). Risk factors include viral infections, stress, intoxication, and autoimmune diseases.

Clinical manifestations range from asymptomatic to acute heart failure. The diagnosis is made on the basis of anamnesis, clinical picture, laboratory and instrumental research methods (ECG, EchoCG, cardiac MRI).

Treatment is aimed at eliminating the causative factor, relieving inflammation, and preventing complications. The prognosis depends on the severity of myocardial damage. With timely treatment, complete recovery is possible.

Myocarditis (MC) are a variety of syndromes associated with inflammation of the heart muscle and including various forms of myocardial dysfunction, electrocardiographic, echocardiographic and some other features. Most often, MCs are distinguished by the possibility of maintaining clinical manifestations for a considerable time and provide the basis for diagnosing a dystrophic or specific form of cardiosclerosis.

MK is usually classified according to the types of inflammatory process and signs of clinical manifestation; these signs are due to the spread and severity of the process. In other words, MC is a combination of 2 classification factors: by etiological agent (primary, secondary, etc.) and by the type of inflammatory damage to the myocardium. Non-classification features should be considered the time characteristics of the manifested process from the onset of the disease to the point of observation.

The occurrence of myocardial dystrophies is associated with a violation of the immune status, which plays an important role in the mechanisms of these diseases. It is known that any unfavorable factor, such as toxic, surgical, septic, iatrogenic or involutive, can become a trigger for the reaction or the basis for the development of primary myocarditis. At the same time, the specificity of immunity, the patient’s ability to adapt to infection, and severe concomitant diseases predispose to the development of myocarditis, for which infectious diseases are the background for the formation of pathological processes in the myocardium. To a certain extent, clinical confirmation of the likelihood of the myocardiotoxic nature of the formation of a specific cardiac dystrophy is the duration of its course.

Forms of heart damage that last a significant period of time (more than 3 months) cannot be sorted out.