Hunter Champion

Publication Detail

The publication detail shows the title, authors (with indicators showing other profiled authors), information on the publishing organization, abstract and a link to the article in PubMed. This abstract is what is used to create the fingerprint of the publication. If any grants are referenced by the publication, they will be listed here as well.

Dilated heart muscle disease associated with HIV infection.

A Herskowitz; S B Willoughby; D Vlahov; K L Baughman; A A Ansari (Profiled Author: David Vlahov)

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
European heart journal 1995;16 Suppl O():50-5.

As more effective therapies have produced longer survival times for HIV-infected patients, non-infectious complications of late stage HIV infection such as the development of severe global left ventricular dysfunction (dilated heart muscle disease) have emerged. The demographic and clinical characteristics of HIV-infected patients who develop dilated heart muscle disease as well as potential risk factors are, as yet, poorly characterized. Of 174 patients enrolled in a prospective longitudinal study, a total of nine patients, all with CD4 T cell counts < 200 mm-3, developed symptomatic heart disease (congestive heart failure n = 7, sudden cardiac death n = 1 and cardiac tamponade n = 1); three of these patients developed progressive cardiac dysfunction leading to primary cardiac failure and death. An additional 55 HIV-infected patients referred to our Cardiomyopathy Service were found to have global left ventricular dysfunction, with 84% having New York Heart Association Class III or IV congestive heart failure on presentation. Clinical characteristics associated with severe symptomatic cardiac dysfunction included low CD4 T cell counts, myocarditis associated with non-permissive cardiotropic virus infection on endomyocardial biopsy and persistent elevation of anti-heart antibodies. No relationships to any specific HIV risk factor or opportunistic infection were found. These findings suggest that a severe form of HIV-related dilated heart muscle disease is largely a disease of late stage HIV infection. Virus-related myocarditis and cardiac autoimmunity may play a role in the pathogenesis of progressive cardiac injury. Long-term longitudinal studies of larger HIV-infected cohorts are warranted to identify clinical, behavioral and immunologic risk factors.

Scientific Context

This section shows information related to the publication - computed using the fingerprint of the publication - including related publications, related experts and related grants with fingerprints representing significant amounts of overlap between their fingerprint and this publication. The red dots indicate whether those experts or terms appear within the publication, thereby showing potential and actual connections.