Table 1.
Summary of cardiac findings or the absence of any reported findings from clinical anthrax studies.
| Publication | Number of Patients | Type of Anthrax Infection | Clinical or Histopathological Cardiac Findings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albrink et al. 1960 [32] | 3 | Inhalational | Moderate subendocardial hemorrhage into myocardium of left ventricle noted at autopsy |
| Abramova et al. 1993 [11] Grinberg et al. 2001 [12] |
42 | Inhalational | No specific cardiac histopathological findings were noted. However, occasional cases showed myocyte hypereosinophilia and rare focal contraction band necrosis attributed to agonal hypotension and hypoxemia |
| Mayer et al. 2001 [44] | 2 | Inhalational | No functional cardiac assessment completed |
| Borio et al. 2001 [29] | 2 | Inhalational | ECG showing atrial fibrillation, no other specific findings noted |
| Jernigan et al. 2001 [1] | 10 * | Inhalational | ECG showing atrial fibrillation noted in one of the four patients not reported as isolated cases |
| Bush et al. 2001 [28] | 1 | Inhalational | No gross cardiac abnormalities on autopsy found |
| Barakat et al. 2002 [31] | 1 | Inhalational | No functional cardiac assessment completed |
| Mina et al. 2002 [18] | 1 | Inhalational | Echocardiogram showed normal LV function at presentation with small pericardial effusion that enlarged and progressed to tamponade. Pulmonary artery catheterization also completed (see Section 3) |
| Guarner et al. 2003 [27] | 11 ** | Inhalational | No specific cardiac histopathological abnormalities noted |
| Tabei et al. 2004 [33] | 33 | Cutaneous, Inhalational, and Gastrointestinal | No specific cardiac histopathological abnormalities noted |
| Babamahmoodi et al. 2005 [39] | 3 | Gastrointestinal | No functional cardiac abnormalities noted |
| Walsh et al. 2007 [35] | 1 | Inhalational | Echocardiogram showing minimal pericardial effusion |
| Klempner et al. 2010 [37] | 1 | Gastrointestinal | Transthoracic echocardiogram showed a normal ejection fraction, no valvular vegetations and findings consistent with right atrial volume overload, and right ventricular systolic hypertension |
| Doganay et al. 2010 [40] | 22 | Cutaneous | No functional cardiac abnormalities noted |
| Popescu et al. 2011 [41] | 2 | Cutaneous | No functional cardiac abnormalities noted |
| Powell et al. 2011 [42] | 1 | Injectional | No functional cardiac abnormalities noted |
| Gruno et al. 2012 [43] | 3 | Injectional | No functional cardiac abnormalities noted |
| Russel et al. 2013 [19] | 2 | Injectional | Transesophageal echocardiogram reported normal in setting of fulminant septic shock |
| Booth et al. 2014 [2] | 27 | Injectional | Of nine patients reported, three had dysfunction based on echocardiography, lithium dilution or pulse contour cardiac outputs, and one had an elevated troponin. Other patients had no evidence of abnormal cardiac function (see section 3) |
| Sprenkle et al. 2014 [38] | 1 | Inhalational | Echocardiogram showed left ventricular hypertrophy with EF of 40%, normal estimated pulmonary artery pressure, probable decreased right ventricular function and no pericardial effusion |
* This review included six other patients in this table described as isolated cases including reports by Mayer, Borio, Bush and Mina; ** This review included patients in this table described in case reports by Jernigan and Barakat.