Abstract

AbstractFour patients are described who had cardiomyopathy as the illness of major importance to cardiologists but in whom there was interesting and important associated neurologic disease, the Guillain-Barré syndrome. This presentation shows that when patients are suspected of having viral cardiomyopathy, they should be questioned carefully to learn if neurologic disease also exists or did once exist. In addition, other organs may also be infected, eg, the pancreas. It is indicated that consideration of and search for multiple organ diseases are not only necessary for good clinical management but are also important for the establishment of an etiologic diagnosis. Furthermore, the viruses of the picornavirus group, which are extremely infective to man, are both highly cardiotropic and neurotropic, but they also infect and damage other organs as well.