SUDDEN UNEXPECTED DEATH IN CHILDHOOD DUE TO EOSINOPHILIC MYOCARDITIS

A 12-year-old boy with no previous serious medical history experienced abdominal discomfort and chest pains for 5 days and suddenly died. Th e autopsy revealed diffuse and extensive infiltration of eosinophils i nto the myocardium, with poorly formed granulomas and few fibrotic cha nges. The necrotic change was so extensive that Charcot-Leyden crystal s formed. The other visceral organs had no specific pathologic changes except for mild lymphocytic infiltration with an increase in goblet c ells in the bronchial areas and eosinocytosis in the blood vessels. An initial viral infection seemed to have caused subsequent eosinophil a ctivation due to an allergic condition. Eosinophilic myocarditis is a rare cause of sudden death in apparently healthy children. Cardiac tox icity of eosinophils is, however, well established and dominates the u ltimate prognosis of patients with complicated eosinophilia.