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CASE REPORT
Eosinophilic myocarditis: an often subtle and potentially under-recognised phenomenon
  1. John Joseph Coughlan1,
  2. Gerald Paul Fitzgerald2,
  3. Filza Gul3,
  4. Richard Liston4
  1. 1Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
  2. 2Department of Cardiology, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Munster, Ireland
  3. 3Dept of Medicine, University Hospital Kerry, Tralee, Ireland
  4. 4Department of Medicine, University Hospital Kerry, Tralee, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr John Joseph Coughlan, jjcoughl{at}gmail.com

Summary

A 34-year-old woman presented to our service with chest pain, a troponin rise and dynamic ECG changes. Of note, she had complained of fatigue, feeling constitutionally unwell and a generalised rash in the days prior to her presentation. Her echocardiogram showed normal wall motion and preserved ejection fraction. Her eosinophil count, normal at presentation, rose to a peak of 12.21×105/L. She was haemodynamically stable throughout with no evidence clinically of congestive cardiac failure. CT coronary angiogram showed no obstructive coronary artery disease. Cardiac MRI demonstrated areas of late gadolinium enhancement consistent with myocarditis. A diagnosis of eosinophilic myocarditis was made. No tissue biopsy was performed due to the patchy myocardial involvement and high potential for low-yield biopsy. Our patient was treated conservatively and has made an excellent recovery.

  • cardiovascular medicine
  • haematology (including blood transfusion)
  • Eosinophilia
  • Myocarditis

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Footnotes

  • Contributors JJC was primarily responsible for drafting of the manuscript. GPF and FG assisted with preparing the manuscript and gathering data and images. RL provided editorial feedback and supervision of the drafting of the manuscript.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.