Ultrastructural features of the endomyocardium in patients with eosinophilic heart disease. An endomyocardial biopsy study.

In a series of studies with endomyocardial biopsy, 7 adult cases with cardiac disease and eosinophilia were studied clinically and electro-microscopy. Degranulation of the eosinophils in the peripheral blood was observed ultrastructurally in 3 of the 4 cases studied. The clinical expression of the 7 patients were, restrictive cardiomyopathy in 2, dilated cardiomyopathy in 2 and sick sinus syndrome in 1 and others in 2. Endocardial thickening was observed in 5 cases, one of whom showed a marked cellular infiltration with macrophages, plasma cells, lymphocytes and mast cells. One other case showed cell debris of degranulated eosinophils. Degeneration of the myocytes was manifested by an increase in Z-bands of the myofibrils as well as streaming (1 case), disarrangement of the myofibrils, and mitochondrial change (1 case) which was characterized by giant mitochondria (1 case) as well as by a numerical increase in mitochondria. Increase of atrial granules and mitochondria in a right atrial biopsy of a case with sick sinus syndrome was noteworthy. Basal lamina layering of the capillaries of the myocardium and pyknosis of an endothelial cell cytoplasm were also noted in each case. These observations may reveal that various disease processes are taking place in the endocardium and adjacent myocardium.