Abstract

VILLAMIL-MUNEVAR, Alejandro et al. Endomyocardial fibrosis. Rev. Colomb. Cardiol. [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.1, pp.59-59. ISSN 0120-5633.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rccar.2016.09.006.

Endomyocardial fibrosis or Löffler endocarditis is a condition whose cause still remains unknown. It can develop during the progress of multiple infectious or tumour diseases, medication, etc. In many cases, showing moderate eosinophilia (more than 1500 eosinophils/ microliter) for long periods of time can cause organ toxicity, among them the heart. This produces a dysfunction of the heart due to direct infiltration, which damages the tissue, and also due to the proteins found in the granules, mostly eosinophil cationic protein and major basic protein, which have a predilection for endocardial tissue, leading to their cell destruction, which will translate into a subcardial enlargement and fibrosis. These alterations result in restrictive cardiomyopathy, endomyocardial fibrosis being their main cause. We present the case of a 30 year-old male patient who is admitted at the hospital due to acute heart failure with an admission echocardiogram that evidenced a restrictive biventricular component, present in up to 51% of the cases in different series. The patient had a base hematological disorder, where eosinophilia had been persistent for more than 6 months.

Keywords : Restrictive cardiomyopathy; Endocardium; Inflammatory response; Thrombosis.

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