Endomyocardial fibrosis in Caucasians previously resident in tropical Africa.

Endomyocardial fibrosis is a form of cardiomyopathy endemic in East, Central, and West Africa (Davies, I948; Connor et al., i967, I968). A similar disease has occasionally been described in other tropical regions, e.g. South America (Andrade and Guimaraes, I964), India (Gopi, i968), and Ceylon (Nagaratnam and Dissanayake, I959). Authenticated cases have been reported in Caucasian patients who have previously resided in the tropics (Brockington, Olsen, and Goodwin, I967). Very occasionally cases with a disease resembling endomyocardial fibrosis have been reported in patients who have never lived in the tropics (Connor et al., i967, i968), and (Bishop et al., I968). This report concerns the only two patients with undoubted endomyocardial fibrosis seen in this Clinic during the past I5 years. Both of these had lived for a time in tropical Africa. We believe this to be of interest in view of the uncertainty that still exists about the exact interrelations of the various forms of cardiomyopathy.