[The heart in tuberculosis]

The evolution of tuberculosis treatment considerably reduced the number of cases of pulmonary chronic heart with tubercular etiology. The fifteen cases of chronic cor pulmonale diagnosed at our Institute after tubercular disease are 22% of all cases of pulmonary chronic heart diagnosed in 1982. These cases are always combined with other diseases. Similar observations can be made about incidence of chronic constrictive pericarditis. Some progress was made in diagnosis of tuberculosis activity. Recent findings suggest not only that antimyolemmal antibodies are diagnostic indicators of perimyocardial involvement in tubercular pericarditis, but also that they may play a significant role in its pathogenesis.