Morphological recognition of viral heart disease.
A large number of endomyocardial biopsies have been analysed from 1.978 patients clinically diagnosed as suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy. In 1.125 patients non-specific changes of a dilated, hypertrophied myocardium were found consistent with a clinical diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy. The most interesting group consisted of 676 patients among which 549 cases showed clear evidence of myocarditis. The so-called "Dallas Criteria" have been described in detail and categorised into acute, active, on-going, resolving (healing) and resolved (healed) phases. Categorization is important for therapeutic reasons. Morphological analysis performs the bases upon which other investigations can be undertaken.
Department of Histopathology (Cardiovascular Disease), Royal Brompton National Heart and Lung Hospital, London, England.
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Olsen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*