Šarūnas Masys¹

¹Republican Siauliai Hospital, Siauliai, Lithuania

Abstract

Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the heart muscle, the most common cause are viral infections, immune reactions associated with systemic and autoimmune diseases, toxins and other factors. However, in many cases, the exact cause of myocarditis is not determined. It is one of the most common causes of dilated cardiomyopathy worldwide. Diagnosis is based on medical history, clinical examination, imaging, and endomyocardial biopsy. It should be emphasized that the clinical picture of myocarditis can range from asymptomatic patients who recover without specific treatment and no residual events to patients with heart failure and cardiogenic shock. To this day, treatment for myocarditis remains non-standardized, except with standardized, science-based treatment for heart failure. In severe cases, mechanical support or heart transplantation. Based on certain literature sources, immunosuppressive therapy showed to be beneficial in certain cases of myocarditis. Because the etiology and treatment of myocarditis in some cases remain unclear, the disease still poses many challenges for clinicians.

Aim: To analyze the scientific literature about etiology, diagnostic methods and treatment of Myocarditis.
Methods: literature sources were selected from PubMed and Google Scholar databases, selecting only reviews from 2015 to 2021 in English, using the keywords in the original language: “Myocarditis”, “Myocarditis etiology”, Myocarditis diagnostics”, “Myocarditis treatment”

Keywords: Myocarditis; heart failure; etiology; diagnostics; treatment.