Endomyocardial Fibrosis / Disease

Diseases & Conditions

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Endomyocardial Fibrosis

Synonyms of Endomyocardial Fibrosis

Davies' Disease
EMF
Fibroelastic Endocarditis
Loeffler Endomyocardial Fibrosis with Eosinophilia
Loeffler Fibroplastic Parietal Endocarditis
Loeffler's Disease

Disorder Subdivisions

Biventricular Fibrosis
Left Ventricular Fibrosis
Right Ventricular Fibrosis

General Discussion
Endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) is a progressive disease of unknown origin (idiopathic) that may seriously affect the heart. Its most obvious feature is a gross change in the makeup of the lining of the heart cavities (the endocardium) of one or both of the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles) leading to the replacement of normal cells with fibrous tissue (fibrosis). This process is progressive and leads to the narrowing (constriction) of the right or left ventricular cavities. It may involve the valves between the chambers of the heart as well as the tendon-like cords that fix the valves to the ventricles (chordae tendineae).

Loeffler's disease is a disease of the heart much like endomyocardial fibrosis. Some clinicians regard it as an early stage of EMF, although this idea remains controversial. Loeffler?s disease is a rare disorder of unknown origin, characterized by abnormal increases in the number of particular white blood cells (eosinophilia), and like EMF, gross fibrosis of the endocardium, and inflammation of small blood vessels (arteritis).
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Organizations related to Endomyocardial Fibrosis

American Heart Association
National Center
Dallas TX 75231-4596
Phone #: 214-373-6300
800 #: 800-242-8721
e-mail: inquire@heart.org
Home page: http://www.americanheart.org
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta GA 30333
Phone #: 404-639-3534
800 #: 800-311-3435
e-mail: http://www.cdc.gov/netinfo.htm
Home page: http://www.cdc.gov/
Myocarditis Foundation
4708 Norbury Place
Raleigh NC 27614
Phone #: 919-846-2081
800 #: 866-846-1600
e-mail: cmoose1@nc.rr.com
Home page: http://www.myocarditisfoundation.org

For a Complete Report

This is an abstract of a report from the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc. ? (NORD). A copy of the complete report can be obtained for a small fee by visiting the NORD website. The complete report contains additional information including symptoms, causes, affected population, related disorders, standard and investigational treatments (if available), and references from medical literature. For a full-text version of this topic, see http://www.rarediseases.org/search/rdblist.html