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Myocarditis - Overview

Alternative Names

Inflammation - heart muscle

Definition of Myocarditis:

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Myocarditis is an uncommon disorder that is usually caused by viral, bacterial, or fungal infections that reach the heart.

Viral infections:

Coxsackie
Cytomegalovirus
Hepatitis C
Herpes
HIV
Parvovirus

Bacterial infections:

Chlamydia
Mycoplasma
Streptococcus
Treponema

Fungal infections:

Aspergillus
Candida
Coccidioides
Cryptococcus
Histoplasma
Schistosomiasis

When you have an infection, your immune system produces special cells that release chemicals to fight off disease. If the infection affects your heart, the disease-fighting cells enter the heart. However, the chemicals produced by an immune response can damage the heart muscle. As a result, the heart can become thick, swollen, and weak. This leads to symptoms of heart failure.

Other causes of myocarditis may include:

Allergic reactions to certain medications or toxins (alcohol, cocaine, certain chemotherapy drugs, heavy metals, and catecholamines)
Being around certain chemicals
Certain diseases that cause inflammation throughout the body (rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis)

Heart, section through the middle

Heart, front view

Lymph tissue in the head and neck.

Reviewed last on: 5/15/2008
Alan Berger, MD, Assistant Professor, Divisions of Cardiology and Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Liu PP, Schultheiss HP. Myocarditis. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Zipes DP. Libby: Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007;chap 66.

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