Giant-Cell Myocarditis: A Rare Cause of Rapidly Evolved Stenosis of the Mitral Valve

M itral valve stenosis of origin other than rheumatic fever is a rare entity. Giant-cell myocarditis is an extremely rare, with poor prognosis, probably autoimmune, granulomatous disease of the heart. Progressive congestive heart failure, intraventricular conduction defects and ventricular arrhythmias, which in many cases can be fatal, are the usual manifestations of this disease. On the contrary, mitral valve stenosis has not been observed as an initial clinical presentation of giant-cell myocarditis. The present case report regards a patient with the clinical presentation of a rapidly evolved mitral valve stenosis, due to giant-cell infiltration of the myocardium and the mitral apparatus.