소아 급성 심근염의 내원 시 주 증상과 예후의 관련성

Abstract

We evaluated the clinical characteristics of acute myocarditis children, especially chief complaints on first visit at a hospital and prognosis. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted to identify patients with myocarditis who presented over a 10-year span at a regional tertiary hospital. Patients were identified based on the international classification of diseases 10, diagnostic codes. Total 18 patients were enrolled in the study. The patients had a median age of 16 months and 61% of them were male. Common chief complaints were shortness of breath, lethargy, cough or palpitation. Of the patients, 5 patients showed gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain and loose stool as initial symptoms. Eighty nine percent of patients had cardiomegaly on chest x-ray, and 72% of patients had an abnormal electrocardiogram results. On first admission, 4 patients were died and 3 of them showed vomiting and abdominal pain as first chief complaints. These data suggest that abdominal pain and vomiting may be chief complaints of acute myocarditis. And myocarditis patients who showed gastrointestinal symptoms initially had poor prognosis. In addition, to distinguish an acute myocarditis, cardiomegaly on chest x-ray and an abnormal electrocardiogram may be useful. Key Words