Unusual arteritis causing myocardial infarction in a child
Wolf, R.L.; Gould, N.S.; Green, C.A.
Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 111(10): 968-971
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-9985 PMID: 2888447 Document Number: 293060
A 5-year-old girl presented with a diffuse inflammatory disease that consisted of fever, lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, and anterior uveitis. A chest x-ray film indicated an apparently nodular infiltrate. Her condition deteriorated abruptly, and she died of acute myocardial infarction. Autopsy revealed an extensive vasculitis that involved the aorta, pulmonary arteries, and coronary vessels. An aneurysm of the left coronary artery was noted. We present and discuss this case as an unusual arteritis in childhood, closely resembling Takayasu's disease. The presence of extensive erythrophagocytosis in sinus histiocytes hinted at a viral or immunologic origin for this child's disease.