Cardiovascular Manifestations in Acute Poliomyelitis

Abstract

CARDIOVASCULAR disturbances in poliomyelitis were first described in 1910 by Robertson and Chesley,¹ who commented on the presence of interstitial edema and swelling of the fibers in the myocardium of patients dying of the infection. The earliest clinical report of heart involvement was published in 1912 by Hertz, Johnson and Depree²; they observed a patient who recovered from an attack of infantile paralysis in which myocarditis was present. Although the presence of cyanosis, rapid pulse, and cardiac arrhythmias in severe cases had been noted in passing by many students of this disease, it remained for Saphir and Wile³ in . . .