Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Myocarditis is the term used to describe acute or chronic inflammation of the myocardium. Since the clinical presentation of myocarditis is so variable, high index of suspicion is essential. Patients are asymptomatic and diagnosis is incidental in the majority of cases. The spectrum of disease ranges from nonspecific findings (chest pain, fever, myalgia, atrial or ventricular tachycardia) to acute heart failure and sudden death. Diagnosis of acute myocarditis can be difficult owing to the lack of accepted and standardized criteria in addition to the nonspecific pattern of clinical presentation. The elevated serum IL-10 levels may possibly reflect the initial amount of virus in acute myocarditis, appear to be a good serological marker to predict the short-term prognosis in acute myocarditis, may re{uFB02}ect future progression of the disease

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