What is Myocarditis?

What is Myocarditis?

• Myocarditis: Inflammation of the myocardium (muscle walls of the heart).
• Myocarditis: Inflammatory processes of the muscular walls of the heart (MYOCARDIUM) which result in injury to the cardiac muscle cells (MYOCYTES, CARDIAC). Manifestations range from subclinical to sudden death (DEATH, SUDDEN). Myocarditis in association with cardiac dysfunction is classified as inflammatory CARDIOMYOPATHY usually caused by INFECTION, autoimmune diseases, or responses to toxic substances. Myocarditis is also a common cause of DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY and other cardiomyopathies.
  Source - Diseases Database
• Myocarditis: inflammation of the myocardium (the muscular tissue of the heart).
  Source - WordNet 2.1

Myocarditis is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Myocarditis, or a subtype of Myocarditis, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Myocarditis: Introduction

Types of Myocarditis:

Types of Myocarditis:

• Bacterial myocarditis
• Viral myocarditis
• Chronic myocarditis
• Fibrous myocarditis
• Giant cell myocarditis
• Hypersensitivity myocarditis
• Idiopathic myocarditis
• Infectious myocarditis
• Interstitial myocarditis
• Parenchymatous myocarditis
• Protozoal myocarditis - from protozoa such as Chagas disease and toxoplasmosis
• Rheumatic myocarditis - caused by rheumatic fever
• Rickettsial myocarditis - caused by rickettsia such as Q fever or scrub typhus
• Tuberculous myocarditis
• more types...»

Broader types of Myocarditis:

• Heart conditions
• Circulatory system conditions
• Heart muscle conditions
• Chest conditions
• Inflammatory conditions that may be pathogenic or non-pathogenic
• more types...»

How serious is Myocarditis?

Prognosis of Myocarditis: A good prognosis depends on prompt diagnosis and stopping exposure to the cause.
Complications of Myocarditis: see complications of Myocarditis

What causes Myocarditis?

Causes of Myocarditis: see causes of Myocarditis

What are the symptoms of Myocarditis?

Symptoms of Myocarditis: see symptoms of Myocarditis

Complications of Myocarditis: see complications of Myocarditis

Can anyone else get Myocarditis?

More information: see contagiousness of Myocarditis
Inheritance: see inheritance of Myocarditis

Myocarditis: Testing

Diagnostic testing: see tests for Myocarditis.

Misdiagnosis: see misdiagnosis and Myocarditis.

How is it treated?

Treatments for Myocarditis: see treatments for Myocarditis
Research for Myocarditis: see research for Myocarditis

Society issues for Myocarditis

Hospitalization statistics for Myocarditis: The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Myocarditis:

• 0.002% (261) of hospital consultant episodes were for acute myocarditis in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 64% of hospital consultant episodes for acute myocarditis required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 71% of hospital consultant episodes for acute myocarditis were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 29% of hospital consultant episodes for acute myocarditis were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 85% of hospital consultant episodes for acute myocarditis required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 8.6 days was the mean length of stay in hospitals for acute myocarditis in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• more statistics...»

Organs Affected by Myocarditis:

Organs and body systems related to Myocarditis include:

• Heart

Name and Aliases of Myocarditis

Main name of condition: Myocarditis

Myocardial inflammation
Source - WordNet 2.1

Myocarditis: Related Conditions

Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Myocarditis:

• Myocardial infarction
• Dilated cardiomyopathy
• Heart failure
• Parvovirus B19
• Lyme disease
• Arrthymias
• Chest pain
• Edema
• Dyspnea
• Rheumatic fever
• Viral myocarditis
• Autoimmunity
• Congestive heart failure
• Palpitations
• Pericarditis

Search Specialists by State and City