SYDÄNTULEHDUS

[soijuv]

37-vuotias mies kuoli äkillisesti borreliabakteerin aiheuttamaan sydänpysähdykseen. Päivää ennen kuolemaa hänestä oli otettu borreliatestit. Vasta-aineissa sekä IgM että IgG olivat positiiviset (myös Western Blot). Kuoleman jälkeen sydämestä otettu PCR-näyte oli positiivinen.

Cardiovasc Pathol. 2008 Mar-Apr;17(2):103-7. Epub 2007 May 11.

Postmortem confirmation of Lyme carditis with polymerase chain reaction.

Tavora F, Burke A, Li L, Franks TJ, Virmani R.

Department of Pulmonary and Mediastinal Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology, Washington, DC, USA.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac involvement in Lyme disease is uncommon and typically
manifests clinically by conduction disturbances. Postmortem identification of
Borrelia burgdorferi has never been reported in a case of Lyme carditis.
METHODS AND RESULTS: We describe the case of a 37-year-old Caucasian man with a 1-month history of fevers, rash, and malaise who died unexpectedly on the day after he underwent medical evaluation. The only clinical cardiac abnormality found was that of second-degree atrioventricular block. At autopsy, a diffuse carditis, characterized by infiltrates of macrophages, lymphocytes, and eosinophils and primarily in an interstitial, endocardial, and perivascular distribution, was found. Serologic testing from blood drawn on the day before his death
demonstrated IgG and IgM antibodies against B. burgdorferi, confirmed by Western
blot. Postmortem polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performed in myocardial tissue
amplified B. burgdorferi DNA encoding outer-surface protein A.
CONCLUSIONS: Lyme carditis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of interstitial myocarditis with mixed inflammatory infiltrates. This diagnosis can be confirmed by PCR testing.

PMID: 18329555 [PubMed - in process]