<unk>  is inflammation in the heart muscle that is caused by the infiltration and destructive activity of a type of white blood cell, the eosinophil. Typically, the disorder is associated with hypereosinophilia, i.e. an eosinophil blood cell count greater than 1,500 per microliter (normal 100 to 400 per microliter). It is distinguished from non-eosinophilic<unk> , which is heart inflammation caused by other types of white blood cells, i.e. lymphocytes and monocytes, as well as the respective descendants of these cells, NK cells and macrophages. This distinction is important because the eosinophil-based disorder is due to a particular set of underlying diseases and its preferred treatments differ from those for non-eosinophilic<unk> .<unk>  is often viewed as a disorder that has three progressive stages. The first stage of<unk>  involves acute inflammation and cardiac cell necrosis (i.e. areas of dead cells); it is dominated by symptoms characterized as the acute coronary syndrome such as angina, heart attack and/or congestive heart failure. The second stage is a thrombotic stage wherein the endocardium (i.e. interior wall) of the diseased heart forms blood clots which break off, travel in, and block blood through systemic or pulmonary arteries; this stage may dominate the initial presentation in some individuals. The third stage is a fibrotic stage wherein scarring replaces damaged heart muscle tissue to cause a clinical presentation dominated by a poorly contracting heart and cardiac valve disease. Perhaps less commonly,<unk> ,<unk>  thrombotic<unk> , and<unk>  fibrotic<unk>  are viewed as three separate but sequentially linked disorders in a spectrum of disorders termed<unk>  cardiac diseases. The focus here is on<unk>  as a distinct disorder separate from its thrombotic and fibrotic sequelae.<unk>  is a rare disorder. It is usually associated with, and considered secondary to, an underlying cause for the pathological behavior of the eosinophils such a toxic reaction to a drug (one of its more common causes in developed nations), the consequence of certain types of parasite and protozoan infections (a more common cause of the disorder in areas with these infestations), or the result of excessively high levels of activated blood eosinophils due to a wide range of other causes. The specific treatment (i.e. treatment other than measures to support the cardiovascular system) of<unk>  differs from the specific treatment of other forms of<unk>  in that it is focused on relieving the underlying reason for the excessively high numbers and hyperactivity of eosinophils as well as on inhibiting the pathological actions of these cells.
Eosinophilic myocarditis
Idiopathic giant-cell myocarditis
Coxsackievirus-induced cardiomyopathy
Viral cardiomyopathy
Amyloid cardiomyopathy
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
HIV associated cardiomyopathy
Tuberculous pericarditis