Oh and yeah any problems,with the leaflets are easily visible
Ok.. Concrete.. So beginning with causes:
Infectious causes of myocarditis
Viral
Adenovirus, Arbovirus, Arenavirus, Coxsackie virus, Epstein–Barr virus, Cytomegalovirus, Echovirus, Encephalomyocarditis virus, Hepatitis B, Human Herpes virus 6, Human immunodeficiency virus-1, Influenza virus B, Mumps virus, Parvovirus B19, Poliomyelitis virus, Rabies, Respiratory syncytial virus, Rubella virus, Rubeola virus, Vaccinia virus, Varicella virus, Variola virus
Bacterial
Brucellosis, Clostridia, Diphtheria, Francisella, Gonococcus, Haemophilus, Legionella, Meningococcus, Mycobacterium, Mycoplasma, Pneumococcus, Psittacosis, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Tropheryma whippleii
Fungal
Actinomyces, Aspergillus, Blastomyces, Candida, Coccidioides, Cryptococcus, Histoplasma, Nocardia, Sporothrix
Rickettsial
Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, Scrub typhus, Typhus
Spirochetal
Borrelia, Leptospira, Syphilis
Helminthic
Cysticercus, Echinococcus, Schistosoma, Toxocara, Trichinella
Protozoal
Entamoeba, Leishmania, Trypanosoma, Toxoplasmosis
European Heart Journal
Oxford University Press
Acute viral myocarditis
Robert Dennert, Harry J. Crijns, and Stephane Heymans"
Basically to summarize that list.. Every illness a human being could reasonably expect to come into contact with..
Viral myocarditis is primarily the result of an inflammatory/autoimmune response. We know very little about it.
Bacterial myocarditis follows a severe bacterial infection.. The kind that puts you in the icu.
Your primary concern is viral myocarditis.
Globally myocarditis effects approximately 22 out of every 100,000 patients.
Developed countries suffer a lower, though unspecified burden from literature i found.
This likely is due to the prevelance of vaccinations and antibiotics.
Specific findings based off autopsy reports related to the evidence of viral myocarditis puts the prevelence at roughly .0007% of the population.
Thats roughly 25,000 that will americans will develop viral myocarditis in their lifetimes, out of which 56% actually die as a result.
To put that into perspective based off the sources of available the chance of contracting viral myocarditis in your lifetime is the equivilent of buying 1 songle powerball ticket, for every drawing for ones entire life... For reference we all know someone who does this im sure, and we can all grasp how realistically likely that is to actually succeed.
Your risk of being killed in a car accident in your lifetime is 23 times higher.
Now.. That said.. The risk is real.. Its there
The steriotypical finding would be the oddly shaped mv leafelets.. Very domed, but minimal regurg usually, perhaps some abnormalities in leaflet motion as well.
As for the 2 bird with 1 stone thing.. You really only kill 1.
Stress echo is just a bit more ssensitive and specific then a simple stress test.
We only get 4 images in the stress echo for pre and post and we only look at wall motion.. Thers no velocities or shunt determinations etc etc. No other calculations. This of course is because by the time we got all that your hr would go down.
Despite only being 4 images it usually requires the attention of the most senior tech.. And often requires contrast.. This is because the images have to be taken immediately after exercise.. Within seconds... Theres cant be a delay.
If you choose to do a more specific stress echo vs just looking at ecg, for all patients.. EVEN low risk patients.. Then youve just successfully taken your most experienced echo tech away from being able to assess heart failure patients, or doing tees for cardioversions in the icu, or echoing patients with tamppnade or effusions in the cath lab... Now they only,have time for stress echo.. Forever.
They wont give you a stress echo.. Not unless you have increased symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath with exercise.. Too much staff, money, risk, time etc.
100% guarantee they wont do a stress echo without a good reason.
A regular, good ole fashioned non stress echo should give you all the information you need and is easily something a doctor will consider to put your fears to rest.
Just tell him you had strep and wanna check your mitral and he shouldnt have any qualms.
Oh and p.s.
Prior post strep rheumatic fever at any point in life can be diagnosed by echo (ultrasound) visualization of the mitral valve. Bowed/tented, distorted or prolapsed mitral valves could indicate a prior post strep complication.
Your endocarditis risk can also be evaluated on echo in part by looking at the aortic valve. If youre part of the minority born with a bicuspid ao youd have a higher risk.
Ultrasound can also help rule out any ongoing pericarditis or endocarditis by looking for calcium deposits on leaflets and fluid around the heart.
Sooo.. If youre superrrrr worried about it. You can just request that ultrasound
Hey, I noticed you've answered both my posts, thank you my friend it's nice of someone to take the time to answer them. No I haven't ever developed it, however the fear of it started a few years back with strep throat, I was very unwell in hospital for 3 nights and they said to me when I left not to return to exercise for a week or so due to a small risk of a heart infection. I didn't develop any of the symptoms of any of the infections in that area but it still stuck with me and haunts me to this day. I then learned myocarditis is usually, in this country, a result of a common cold virus. And some people can show only viral symptoms not heart symptoms like you'd expect
Myocarditis? Thats pretty serious and usually not the first issue youll have. Were you diagnosed with this in the past?
Pericarditis is much more common and typically resolves on its own..
Endocarditis is a little less common then pericarditis but is also a risk you can face.. However it usually comes about as the result of a serious bacterial infection, and can be complicated by certain risk factors as a bicuspid aortic valve. This is seen, especially in older more vulnerable populations..
For a young lad like you uncomplicated pericarditis is by far the most likely to result from a common illness.
If you were diagnosed with myocarditis id be very intdrested in hearing your story and some of your demographics, age, gender, history.. etc.