Summary
In 22 patients without a previous history of cardiac disease, we prospectively evaluated cardiac involvement during acute malaria and 9±5 months after recovery using non-invasive methods including resting electrocardiogram (ECG) and two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography. During the acute phase ECG abnormalities were common (5/22); pericardial effusion was found in 2 patients and global left ventricular hypokinesia in 1 patient infected with Plasmodium falciparum. At a follow-up of 19 patients, the resting ECG and echocardiography were normal or had normalized in all patients. The results of our study suggest that persistent cardiac damage following malarial infection seems to be rare; however, further trials in a larger patient population are needed to confirm our findings.
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Abbreviations
- PE:
-
pericardial effusion
- LV:
-
left ventricular depression
- C:
-
chloroquine
- M:
-
mefloquine
- P:
-
primaquine
- F:
-
fansidar
- Q:
-
quinine
- ECG:
-
electrocardiogram
- 2D:
-
two-dimensional
- LVEDD:
-
left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (mm)
- FS:
-
fractional shortening (%)
- LV:
-
left ventricular
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Preliminary data have been presented at the Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin in Wiesbaden, FRG, April 6–10, 1991 [KIin Wochenschr (1991) 69 [Suppl 23]:448]
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Franzen, D., Curtius, J.M., Heitz, W. et al. Cardiac involvement during and after malaria. Clin Investig 70, 670–673 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00180283
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00180283