Endocardial Fibrosis Simulating Constrictive Pericarditis

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Abstract
THE first physician to describe the association of endocardial fibrosis and eosinophilia as a clinical entity was Löffler1 in 1936. The similarity of this disease to constrictive pericarditis was noted, and it was postulated that in both entities the clinical picture results from restriction of diastolic filling by a thick fibrous plate; it makes little difference whether the thickened plate consists of pericardium or endocardium.Löffler considered the entity that he described to be a manifestation of the rheumatic state, as did Mumme2 and Berblinger,3 who have reported cases in which there was thought to be "rheumatic involvement of valve . . .