[102 patients with suspected myocarditis : Clinical presentation, diagnostics, therapy and prognosis].

INTRODUCTION: Myocarditis is a disease which is difficult to diagnose and which includes a risk of the development of dilated cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death. METHODS AND PATIENTS: In this study 102 patients were included from the time period 2003-2013 after diagnosis or suspected diagnosis of myocarditis in the department of internal medicine at the University Hospital Halle (Saale). RESULTS: Of the study participants 77.5% were male and the average age was 35.5 ± 14.1 years. The symptoms reported by the patients were angina in 46.1%, dyspnea in 38.2%, performance deterioration in 29.4%, palpitations in 9.8% and syncope in 8.8%. In 45.1% of patients, symptoms were preceded by a respiratory infection. All patients underwent an echocardiogram and in 36.5% it was possible to demonstrate a regional wall motion abnormality and in 20.4% a pericardial effusion. A myocardial biopsy was performed in 15.6% of the patients. The presence of cardiotropic viruses was investigated in 37.3% of patients but was detected in only 5.9%. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in 82 patients of whom 33.3% showed a late enhancement and 11.9% a wall movement disorder. In this study four patients, all male, died and three suffered recurrent myocarditis. CONCLUSION: This study showed the wide range of symptoms in myocarditis. Myocarditis is rarely severely manifested and in this study the mortality was 3.9%. For further optimization of the diagnostic and treatment algorithms, prospective, randomized studies would be desirable.