Y. Aoki et al., SUDDEN UNEXPECTED DEATH IN CHILDHOOD DUE TO EOSINOPHILIC MYOCARDITIS, International journal of legal medicine, 108(4), 1996, pp. 221-224
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.