CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 28, No 4, July/August 2017
214
AFRICA
One limitation of the study is that the new echocardiographic
features reported in this study, namely endocardial fibrous
shelf and endomyocardiopericarial fibrosis, were collected
from a largely descriptive and small study, This needs further
verification, which can only be achieved in a large study.
Conclusion
This study confirmed that isolated cases of EMF are still seen in
Sudan. The main features of EMF were apical and ventricular
wall fibrosis, atrial enlargement and obliterated ventricles. New
details on endomyocardial pericardial layering and images of
endocardial fibrous shelf are described. A new echocardiographic
entity, EMPF, an advanced form of EMF that behaves like
constrictive pericarditis, was identified. Diagnosis of EMF
needed a high index of suspicion to differentiate it from other
conditions discussed in this article.
As the time course of the study may suggest, many doctors, nurses and medi-
cal records staff have provided assistance during the preparation, collection
and recording of this work. We are grateful for their help and support. We
thank Dr Sally Khalil for copy editing the manuscript.
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