Basophilic Myocarditis

Abstract

Introduction As early as 1905, Geipel¹ described areas of basophilic myocardial degeneration in a 16-year-old girl who died of rheumatic heart disease. In 1910 Hewitt² reported 2 cases with similar cardiac findings. A more exhaustive study was undertaken by Haumeder,³ who, in a series of 320 consecutive autopsies, found the incidence of basophilic degeneration to be 33.4%. Scotti, in a similar study, cites an 11% occurrence. The patient whose findings are presented here exhibited the changes characteristic for basophilic myocardosis as the predominant cause for his collapse and subsequent death. In addition, the histopathology of the human disease is to be compared with that produced experimentally. Report of a Case A 57-year-old white man was admitted to the hospital on Aug. 11, 1959, in a state of shock. He had been admitted previously on Feb. 17, 1958, for exertional dyspnea of 2 years' duration. This history was