Why the study?
How does the morphometric profile of chronic myocarditis compare to that of dilated cardiomyopathy and normal controls?
How does the morphometric profile of chronic myocarditis compare to that of dilated cardiomyopathy and normal controls?
Chronic myocarditis shares a similar morphometric profile with fibrosis-type dilated cardiomyopathy, characterized by myocyte loss and increased fibrosis.
Morphometric resemblance to fibrosis-type DCM in chronic myocarditis may refine biopsy interpretation; leaves open prospective validation before diagnostic use.
Eight patients with chronic myocarditis (CM), 2 showing postmyocarditis and 6 showing dilated heart with severe diffuse cell infiltration, were compared morphometrically with 27 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM, 8 with fibrosis type DCM and 19 with non-fibrosis type DCM) and 10 controls. Patients with CM had a mean age of 43.5 years (range, 17-75 years), a mean duration of clinical illness of 45.5 months, heart weight of 448 g, left ventricular wall thickness of 8 mm, number of myocyte layers of the stratum compactum layer of the left ventricle (Nf) of 125, myocyte size of 19.1 micron, and % area of fibrosis of 29.1%. The morphometric profile of patients with CM resembled that of patients with fibrosis type DCM; this appeared to be due primarily to a decrease in the number of myocardial cells and an increase in myocardial fibrosis.
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Kawai et al. (1987) studied this question.
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