Immunologic Aspects of Cardiovascular Disease
- Dennis K. Ledford, MD;
- Luis R. Espinoza, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
THE IMMUNOLOGIC diseases of the blood vessels (vasculitis) and those of the heart (carditis) share pathophysiological features and frequently are coincident, since the heart and blood vessels share a congruous endothelial surface. The clinical and pathological classification of the vasculitides is facilitated by the general accessibility of blood vessels to biopsy. The adaptation of techniques to permit in vivo endocardial biopsy coupled with pericardial biopsy has added to the understanding of carditis.1
In this chapter we will review and categorize the clinical syndromes characterized by presumed immunologic injury to the heart and blood vessels. The presumption of an immunologic mechanism is primarily based on the presence of immunoglobulin or complement deposition and/or inflammatory cell infiltration in the blood vessels or cardiac tissue without other specific reason for this inflammatory response.2 The categorization of these syndromes is based on the description of the pathophysiology and clinical features, since the
