Myocarditis. Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment

Preface.-1 Classification, histopathology, Immunohistology and molecular diagnosis of Myocarditis.-2 Clinical presentation of Myocarditis.-3 Endomyocardial biopsy.-4 Genetic basis: myth or reality?.-5 Viral myocarditis: from experimental models to molecular diagnosis in patients.-6 Autoimmune myocarditis: animal models.-7 Electrocardiography.-8 Standard and advanced echocardiography.-9 Cardiac Magnetic resonance imaging in Myocarditis.-10 Organ-specific autoimmune myocarditis.-11 Myocarditis in systemic immune-mediated diseases.-12 Giant cell and hypersensitivity myocarditis.-13 Myocarditis in children.-14 Immunosuppressive therapy: lessons from clinical trials and future perspectives.-15 Immunomodulation and immunoadsorption in inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy.-16 Clinical management and follow-up of Myocarditis patients on immunosuppressive therapy.-17 Antiviral therapies, a critical reappraisal.-18 Conventional Cardiological therapy.-19 Arrhythmias in Myocarditis.-20 Mechanical assist devices and heart transplantation

This book is an up-to-date, comprehensive, clinically oriented guide to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with myocarditis. The opening chapters address the classification, histopathology and molecular diagnosis, as well as the polymorphic clinical presentations, ranging from myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries; arrhythmias of variable type and clinical severity and fulminant, acute, sub-acute or chronic heart failure; to life-threatening unexplained cardiogenic shock and sudden cardiac death.

Including chapters from leading International experts in the field, it covers all key issues from bench to bedside. Topics presented include epidemiology, etiology, pathogenesis, clinical and diagnostic work-up, the role of endomyocardial biopsy and of non-invasive cardiac imaging, risk stratification, and cardiological and etiology-specific management and follow-up. For each topic, a comprehensive review of the current literature is provided and practical suggestions are offered for short- and long-term management. Lastly, future perspectives and gaps in the current knowledge are also addressed.

The book also covers a key discovery of last the 2 decades, namely the autoimmune origin of myocarditis in a sizable proportion of patients, discussing in detail the role of immunosuppression and immunomodulation, as well as the need for a multidisciplinary approach to the disease.

Mainly intended for cardiologists, general physicians, clinical immunologists and rheumatologists, it is also a valuable tool for residents in Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology.

Alida L. P. Caforio received her Medicine and Surgery degree and her specialty Cardiology diploma from the Pisa University and attended a pre-graduate and a post-graduate course at the Faculty of Medicine at Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Pisa. She was a clinical research fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Unit, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital and at the Department of Cardiological Sciences, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London University, where she was subsequently appointed as honorary lecturer. She was involved in a joint clinical research project between this department (in collaboration with Prof. William J McKenna) and the Department of Immunology, Middlesex Hospital, University College Medical School, London (Prof. GF Bottazzo) on the role of autoimmunity in myocarditis and in dilated cardiomyopathy. She has received numerous academic and research awards from national and international cardiac societies, including the Italian (SIC) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). She was elected chairperson of both SIC and ESC Myocardial and Pericardial Disease Working Groups and was the coordinator of recent ESC expert consensus statements on myocarditis (2013, 2018) and dilated cardiomyopathy (2017). She is currently Chair of the ESC Long term Cardiomyopathy and Myocarditis Registry. Since 1997 she has been a senior staff cardiologist in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Cardiological, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences at the University of Padova-Azienda ospedaliera di Padova, and in 2018 was appointed associate professor of Cardiology at the University of Padova. Her main research focus relates to cardiac immunology, cardiomyopathies and transplantation, invasive and non-invasive cardiovascular imaging techniques particularly in the field of myocardial and pericardial disease. Prof. Caforio is the author of 566 publications, 141 of which are peer-reviewed full papers, indexed in Medline.