Systemic sclerosis presented as congestive heart failure: an autopsy case

Vol.21 No.4

Case Report

Systemic sclerosis presented as congestive heart failure: an autopsy case

Authors

Hiroyuki Kanno¹ , Toshie Segawa² , Yasuhiro Miura¹ , Mutsumi Miyata¹ , Aki Yoshida¹ , Motoyuki Nakamura² , Takashi Sawai¹

Department of Pathology, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka 020-8505, Japan
Department of Internal Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka 020-8505, Japan

Received:

18 November 2010

Accepted:

24 December 2010

Published online:

25 January 2011

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Abstract

We report the autopsy results of a patient with systemic sclerosis with myositis lesions in the skeletal muscles and myocardium. A 69-year-old Japanese woman developed congestive heart failure and died due to respiratory failure with restrictive hypoventilation. The heart at autopsy showed dilated ventricular hypertrophy, and histopathology of the heart exhibited diffuse replacement fibrosis resembling the lesion of ischemic heart diseases in addition to patchy fibrosis around myocardial fibers suggesting post-myocarditis-like fibrosis.

Key words

Cardiomyopathy - Congestive heart failure - Myocarditis - Polymyositis - Systemic sclerosis