Article Text
Abstract
A woman in her 20s presented with chest pain, dyspnoea, arthralgia, muscle weakness and skin discolouration. She was diagnosed with dermatomyositis. During her admission, she developed pleuritic chest pain and shortness of breath accompanied by a significant troponin I rise. Her echocardiogram showed a hyperdynamic left ventricle with a trivial pericardial effusion; there were no regional wall motion abnormalities. Gadolinium-diethylenetriaminepantaacetic-enhanced cardiac MRI showed extensive myocarditis. She was started on corticosteroids and azathioprine which led to an improvement of symptoms and biochemical markers.
- connective tissue disease
- cardiovascular medicine
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Footnotes
Contributors CA wrote the summary of the case, outcome and follow-up. He also contacted the patient for her consent for the article to be written. HJC wrote the summary, background and discussion, and helped with editing the case report. SDR helped to edit the overall article and provide additional advice regarding the cardiology investigations. PR helped to edit the overall article and was involved in following the patient up in clinic and helped to contact the patient regarding her own patient journey.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.