Myocarditis associated with Hashimoto's disease: a case report

We report on a sudden cardiac death case involving a 40-year-old man with no known medical history. Forensic autopsy showed lymphocytic myocarditis associated with lymphocytic thyroiditis. In both the heart and the thyroid gland, the inflammatory foci often had a nodular pattern with a germinal cent...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of legal medicine 2003-12, Vol.117 (6), p.361-364
Main Authors: Lorin De La Grandmaison, G, Izembart, M, Fornes, P, Paraire, F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Death, Sudden, Cardiac - etiology
Humans
Male
Myocarditis - etiology
Myocarditis - immunology
Myocardium - immunology
Myocardium - pathology
Thyroid Gland - immunology
Thyroid Gland - pathology
Thyroiditis, Autoimmune - complications
Thyroiditis, Autoimmune - immunology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We report on a sudden cardiac death case involving a 40-year-old man with no known medical history. Forensic autopsy showed lymphocytic myocarditis associated with lymphocytic thyroiditis. In both the heart and the thyroid gland, the inflammatory foci often had a nodular pattern with a germinal centre. Virological and toxicological analyses were negative. Postmortem biochemistry showed a slight increase in TSH in combination with normal T3 and T4 blood levels suggesting hypothyroidism. High titres of antiperoxidase and antithyroglobulin antibodies with normal levels of TSH receptor antibodies, in addition to biological hypothyroidism and lymphocytic inflammation were consistent with the diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Immunohistochemical studies excluded a lymphoma and showed no evidence of viral myocarditis. In contrast to Grave's disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis has never been reported in association with myocarditis as a cause of sudden death. We conclude that the cardiac immunological and histological pattern, similar to that found in the thyroid gland suggests an autoimmune myocarditis.
ISSN:0937-9827
1437-1596
DOI:10.1007/s00414-003-0392-5