Perhaps less commonly, eosinophilic myocarditis, eosinophilic thrombotic myocarditis, and eosinophilic fibrotic myocarditis are viewed as three separate but sequentially linked disorders in a spectrum of disorders termed eosinophilic cardiac diseases. The focus here is on eosinophilic myocarditis as a distinct disorder separate from its thrombotic and fibrotic sequelae. Eosinophilic myocarditis is a rare disorder. It is usually associated with, and considered secondary to, an underlying cause for the pathological behavior of the eosinophils such a toxic reaction to a drug (one of its more common causes in developed nations), the consequence of certain types of parasite and protozoan infections (a more common cause of the disorder in areas with these infestations), or the result of excessively high levels of activated blood eosinophils due to a wide range of other causes. The specific treatment (i.e. treatment other than measures to support the cardiovascular system) of eosinphilic myocarditis differs from the specific treatment of other forms of myocarditis in that it is focused on relieving the underlying reason for the excessively high numbers and hyperactivity of eosinophils as well as on inhibiting the pathological actions of these cells. Signs and symptoms
Symptoms in eosinophilic myocarditis are highly variable. They tend to reflect the many underlying disorders causing eosinophil dysfunction as well as the widely differing progression rates of cardiac damage. Before cardiac symptoms are detected, some 66% of cases have symptoms of a common cold and 33% have symptoms of asthma, rhinitis, urticarial, or other allergic disorder.
History
In 1936, the famed Swiss physician Wilhem Löffler first described heart damage that appeared due to massive cardiac eosinophil infiltrations and was associated with excessively high levels of blood eosinophils. Subsequent cases of this disorder, termed Loeffler endocarditis, were found to occur in about 20% of individuals diagnosed with the hypereosinophilic syndrome. Loefflers and the latter cases had pathological features of eosinophil infiltrations not only into the hearts myocardium but also its epicardium (i.e. lining of the heart chambers). Although eosinophilic myocarditis due to other underlying causes may show little or no eosinophil infiltrations into the endocardium, Loeffler endocarditis is considered an important form of the disorder. == References ==