Myocarditis — Cardiomyopathy Historic Survey and Definition

Abstract

Since the discovery of the circulation by Harvey in 1628 more than 100 years had passed, when in the period of semiotique — the beginning of collection and description of different findings referring to different organs in the 1750ies — inflammations of the heart were for the first time described by Senac, living in Versailles, in his work “Traité des maladies du Coeur” in 1749. Twelve years later, in 1761, Morgagni in his significant essay “de sedibus et causis morborum” analyzed anatomical findings, which could be interpreted as myocardial fibrosis. Moreover, we owe him many clinical observations, for example about the symptomatology of total heart bloc. Subsequently in the beginning of the 19th century a certain differentiation of special forms of heart diseases took place. In the 18th century one differentiated between hypertrophic and dilated hearts. With reference to the causes one differentiated between defects caused by diseases of the heart valves and such without changes of the heart valves.