Dengue hemorrhagic fever can be complicated by acute myocarditis masquerading as acute myocardial infarction, highlighting the need for high clinical suspicion to prevent morbidity and mortality.
We report a case of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) complicated by acute myocarditis and review the literature. A 65-year-old woman experienced DHF due to dengue virus serotype 3, complicated with acute myocarditis and acute pulmonary edema. Clinically this masqueraded as acute myocardial infarction, with an electrocardiographically depressed ST segment in precordial leads and elevated serum cardiac-specific troponin I level. Under supportive management, the patient recovered 3 days later. A total of 18 pertinent articles involving 339 dengue-affected patients with cardiac complications were found by PubMed search. Clinical manifestations of cardiac complications varied considerably, from self-limiting tachy-brady arrhythmia to severe myocardial damage, leading to hypotension and pulmonary edema. Although rare, a fatal outcome was reported in some cases of dengue with cardiac complications. To avoid otherwise preventable morbidity and mortality, physicians should have a high index of suspicion for cardiac complications in patients with dengue illness and should manage this accordingly.
Lee et al. (Tue,) studied this question.