Reversible cardiomyopathy due to selenium deficiency.

Selenium is an essential trace element and a component of glutathione peroxidase, an enzyme that may help to prevent oxidative damage to cells. Selenium deficiency has been linked to the development of Keshan disease, a dilated congestive cardiomyopathy occurring primarily in children living in rural China. Sporadic cases have been reported in the United States in individuals with poor nutritional intake, mostly in individuals on long-term home parenteral nutrition. This report describes a young black woman with Crohn's disease in whom a congestive cardiomyopathy developed and was subsequently reversed following administration of selenium.