title: Hepatitis B virus and myocarditis.
abstract: Myocarditis may be a serious extrahepatic complication of hepatitis. In this fatal case of serologically documented hepatitis B viral hepatitis, acute myocarditis was present, with histologic features consistent with a viral pathogenesis. Hepatitis B surface antigen was demonstrated by immunoperoxidase methods in small intramyocardial vessels, suggesting that hepatitis B virus infected the heart. The resulting inflammatory heart disease may have been caused either directly, by virus infecting the myocardium, or indirectly, by an immune-mediated mechanism.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens