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Characterization of Löeffler Eosinophilic Myocarditis by Means of Real Time Three‐Dimensional Contrast‐Enhanced Echocardiography
Author(s) -
Del Bene Maria Riccarda,
Cappelli Francesco,
Rega Luigi,
Venditti Francesco,
Barletta Giuseppe
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
echocardiography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1540-8175
pISSN - 0742-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8175.2011.01570.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hypereosinophilic syndrome , thrombus , eosinophil , myocarditis , pathology , fibrosis , cardiology , eosinophilic , restrictive cardiomyopathy , cardiomyopathy , eosinophilia , heart failure , asthma
Löeffler endocarditis is a rare myocardial disease often due to eosinophil leukemia or idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome. Degranulation of eosinophils within the eosinophil infiltrated myocardium is associated with myocardial necrosis due to the release of toxic cationic proteins, and with mural thrombi formation, which can occur anywhere in the ventricles. Thrombus formed on denuded myocardium is replaced by fibrosis as the final pathological stage of the disease, eventually leading to restrictive cardiomyopathy. We describe a multimodality imaging approach to the diagnosis and follow‐up evaluation of Löeffler disease complicated by thrombus formation and neoangiogenesis of LV apex. (Echocardiography 2012;29:E62‐E66)