Clinical Trial: Cardiotropic Viruses in Cardiac Surgery Patients Without Clinical Evidence of Myocarditis or Myocarditic Sequelae

Study Status: Terminated
Recruit Status: Terminated
Study Type: Interventional



Official Title: Prevalence of Cardiotropic Viruses in Cardiac Surgery Patients Without Clinical Evidence of Myocarditis or Myocarditic Sequelae

Brief Summary:

Myocarditis is mainly caused by cardiotropic viruses. In recent time viruses found in endomyocardial biopsies mainly consist of parvovirus B19 (PVB19) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6). A definite causal link between virus-genome detection of PVB19 and/or HHV6 (via pcr techniques)and cardiac inflammation and dysfunction is however still missing.

Primary objective:

To determine the prevalence of PVB19 and HHV6 virus genome in heart muscle biopsies of cardiac surgery patients without clinical evidence of myocarditis or myocarditic sequelae

Secondary objectives:

  1. Correlation of non-invasive myocarditis screening exams (cardiac magnetic resonance, ecg, history, inflammatory markers) with biopsy results
  2. Prognostic value of virus prevalence for the postoperative course

Primary hypothesis:

Patients without clinical evidence of myocarditis or myocarditic sequelae demonstrate to a significant lesser extent inflammatory activity and virus genome in their myocardium as compared to patients being clinical suspicious for myocarditis.