RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Acute idiopathic interstitial myocarditis: case report with special reference to morphological characteristics of giant cells.
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 1209
OP 1216
DO 10.1136/jcp.39.11.1209
VO 39
IS 11
A1 M Tanaka
A1 R Ichinohasama
A1 Y Kawahara
A1 Y Esaki
A1 K Hirokawa
A1 K Okishige
A1 Y Tanaka
YR 1986
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/39/11/1209.abstract
AB Necropsy findings of an acute fatal case of idiopathic interstitial myocarditis were reported. The patient was a 33 year old housewife who had acute cardiac failure on the sixteenth day after the onset of the disease. Necropsy showed important pathological changes confined to the heart. Both ventricles were affected by confluent granulomas with an ill defined patchy appearance. Histologically these lesions consisted of round cells, histiocytes, eosinophils and myogenic giant cells. The findings were compatible with those of interstitial myocarditis associated with a proliferation of giant cells. Both atriums were also affected to a minor extent, detectable only by histological examination. Electron microscopy and cytochemistry showed that most giant cells noted in the lesion showed myofibrils and primary lysosomes in the cytoplasm. Giant cells were positive for myoglobin. Though the macrophage origin of the giant cell in this disorder has been emphasised in a recent report, these cytological results suggest that giant cells observed in the cardiac granulomatous lesions of this case were mainly myogenic in origin.