Atrial Giant Cell Myocarditis as a Cause of Heart Failure: Diagnostic Pathway and Successful Treatment

Christina Paitazoglou; Martin W Bergmann; Katharina Tiemann; Andrea Wiese; Ulrich Schäfer; Arne Schwarz; Ingo Eitel; Moritz Montenbruck

doi:10.1016/j.jaccas.2021.11.007

Atrial Giant Cell Myocarditis as a Cause of Heart Failure: Diagnostic Pathway and Successful Treatment

JACC Case Rep. 2022 Jan 5;4(1):66-71. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccas.2021.11.007.

Authors

Christina Paitazoglou^{1

2}, Martin W Bergmann^{1

3}, Katharina Tiemann⁴, Andrea Wiese⁵, Ulrich Schäfer⁵, Arne Schwarz⁶, Ingo Eitel², Moritz Montenbruck⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Interventional Cardiology, Cardiologicum Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
² Lübeck University Heart Center, Medical Clinic II (Cardiology, Angiology, Intensive Care Medicine), Schleswig-Holstein University (UKSH), Lübeck, Germany.
³ Department of Cardiology, Asklepios Clinic Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
⁴ MVZ HPH Institute for Pathology and Hematopathology GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Cardiology, Marienkrankenhaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Cardiac Imaging, Marienkrankenhaus Hamburg, Hamburg.

Abstract

We present a patient with acute heart failure and new onset atrial fibrillation secondary to giant cell myocarditis with lone atrial involvement. The diagnosis was managed with cardiac magnetic resonance and confirmed by interventionally guided biopsy. In the future, diagnosis could be managed noninvasively for this rare entity as the gold standard. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).

Keywords: AF, atrial fibrillation; ANCA, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody; CMR, cardiac magnetic resonance; GCM, giant cell myocarditis; HF, heart failure; Ig, immunoglobulin; LA, left atrium; RA, right atrium; TEE, transesophageal echocardiography; atrial giant cell myocarditis; cardiac magnetic resonance; heart failure; magnetic resonance imaging.

Publication types

Case Reports