Embolic Complications of Cardiomyopathy.

The cardiomyopathy that is comnmon among the South African Bantu population has been described by diverse names, among which are "nutritional heart disease" and "cardiovascular collagenosis with parietal endocardial thrombosis". While its cause is obscure, pathologists are in agreement regarding its principal morbid anatomical features. Among the most striking of these is the endocardial thrombosis which is presumably responsible, by means of embolization, for infarction of other organs such as the lungs, spleen, kidneys, and brain. Evidence of such infarction is a common post-mortem finding, and this aspect of the morbid anatomy is well documented (Higginson, Gillanders, and Murray, 1952; Becker, Chatgidakis, and van Lingen, 1953; Higginson, Isaacson, and Simson, 1960). The clinical occurrence of visceral infarction in cardiomyopathy has not, however, been stressed. The object of this report is to show that the embolic complications may have clinically recognizable effects that may overshadow the primary cardiac disease.