Myocarditis

Introduction: Myocarditis

Myocarditis: Inflammation of the myocardium (muscle walls of the heart). More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Myocarditis is available below.

Symptoms of Myocarditis

• Variable symptom severity
• Chest pain
• Heartbeat irregularity
• Arrhythmia
• Breathlessness

See full list of 6 symptoms of Myocarditis

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Myocarditis:

• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Home Cholesterol Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Myocarditis

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Myocarditis

• ECG

Read more about tests for Myocarditis

Wrongly Diagnosed with Myocarditis?

• Misdiagnosis of Myocarditis
• Underlying causes of Myocarditis (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Myocarditis

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack,...read more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a...read more »

Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal. It...read more »

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test...read more »

Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children. Some of the symptoms of...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Myocarditis

Causes of Myocarditis

• Bacterial infection
• Viral infection
• Autoimmune myocarditis
• Diphtheria
• Rheumatic fever

See full list of 12 causes of Myocarditis

More information about causes of Myocarditis:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Myocarditis (4 listings)
• Underlying causes of Myocarditis
• Myocarditis as a complication caused by other conditions
• Myocarditis as a symptom

Treatments for Myocarditis

• Hospitalization
• Bed rest
• Antibiotics - if possibly caused by a bacterial infection
• Corticosteroids
• Treatment of the underlying cause

Read more about treatments for Myocarditis

Videos for Myocarditis

Patient Surveys for Myocarditis

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Myocarditis
  Take Survey  View Results

Reseach about Myocarditis

Visit our research pages for current research about Myocarditis treatments.

Clinical Trials for Myocarditis

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Myocarditis include:

• Phase II Randomized Study of Muromonab-CD3, Cyclosporine, Methylprednisolone, and Prednisone in Patients With Giant Cell Myocarditis - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Cyclosporine,methylprednisolone,Muromonab-CD3,prednisone
• Study of Muromonab-CD3 and Cyclosporine in Patients With Giant Cell Myocarditis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Muromonab-CD3,Cyclosporine
• Myocarditis Treatment Trial - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - cyclosporine,prednisone

Read more about Clinical Trials for Myocarditis

Statistics for Myocarditis

• Medical statistics for Myocarditis
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Myocarditis
• Death and Mortality statistics for Myocarditis
• Society statistics for Myocarditis

Types of Myocarditis

• Bacterial myocarditis
• Viral myocarditis
• Chronic myocarditis
• Fibrous myocarditis
• Giant cell myocarditis

See full list of 14 Types of Myocarditis

Stories from Users Related to Myocarditis

• Myocarditis Experts
• Myocarditis symptoms
• flu shot with synus infection and myocarditis

Related forums and stories:

• Heart Conditions (76)
  • heart skips
  • Wolff-Parkinson-White
  • calf aches
  • Wpw
  • Endocarditis from Cellulitis
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Myocarditis, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Definitions of 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)

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)