A Case of Myopericarditis Mimicking Acute Myocardial Infarction in Childhood

Abstract

Myopericarditis is an inflammatory disease of the both myocardial and pericardial tissues, and resulting from different etiologies. Viral agents such as coxsackie virus type B, adenovirus, and echovirus are the most common leading cause of this disease and it usually occurs following viral upper respiratory tract infections. Although there are different clinical features according to ages groups, some common findings such as tachycardia incompatible with fever, deeply heared heart sounds, and heart failure can be seen. Clinical findings often mimics a myocardial infarction. Diagnosis of this disease is made by the evaluation of the clinical condition, electrocardiography, echocardiography and elevation of the cardiac enzymes. Because it is mortality, discrimination of myopericarditis from myocardial infarction is very important. Herein, we report a 13 year-old-girl with the diagnosis of myopericarditis presenting with chest pain, electrocardiographic changes mimicking myocardial infarction and elevated cardiac enzymes and also aimed to emphasize the importance of accurate diagnosis of this disease.

Keywords

• Myopericarditis
• viral infection
• electrocardiography
• echocardiography