Tuberculous dilated cardiomyopathy: An under-recognized entity?

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a common public health problem in many parts of the world. TB is generally believed to spare these four organs-heart, skeletal muscle, thyroid and pancreas. We describe a rare case of myocardial TB diagnosed on a post-mortem cardiac biopsy. Case presentation: Patient presented with history suggestive of congestive heart failure. We describe the clinical presentation, investigations and outcome of this case, and review the literature on the involvement of myocardium by TB. Conclusion: Involvement of myocardium by TB is rare. However it should be suspected as a cause of congestive heart failure in any patient with features suggestive of TB. Increasing recognition of the entity and the use of endomyocardial biopsy may help us detect more cases of this "curable" form of cardiomyopathy. © 2005 Agarwal et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.