Abstract
Background: Myocarditis is an inflamation of the heart muscle and has a nonspecific clinical presentation. The presentation is heterogeneous, and there are limited studies describing the clinical characteristics of these patients. We performed a single-centre study to explore the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with suspected acute myocarditis.
Methods: 108 patients with clinically suspected myocarditis addmitted to Viet Nam National Heart Institute were included. Clinical, biochemical and imaging factors were collected. The early outcomes were consisting of in-hospital mortality, heart failure and life-threatening arrhythmias.
Results: The clinical manifestations were often nonspecific and mimicked acute coronary syndrome or acute heart failure. It was more common in young men (71,3%), 94,4% patients presented with chest pain. Specific abnormal signs of heart failure such as hepatomegaly, edema, jugular vein distensionwere less prevalent. Sinus tachycardia (44,4%) and ST elevation (41,7%) were the most common signs on electrocardiography. Troponin T was high (2006,1 ± 1854,7 ng/L) and had no sex differences. NT-proBNP and CK-MB were higher in wome versus men (p < 0,05). All patients had coronary angiography were normal (100%).