Disease not genetic but infectious: multiple tuberculomas and fibrinous pericarditis as symptoms pathognomonic for tuberculosis of Frederic Chopin.

ABSTRACT

Chopin's heart, generally enlarged, presented morphologic features pathognomonic for fibrinous pericarditis presumably of tubercular origin multiple nodular hyalinization foci-tuberculomas and fibrillary coating covering the whole surface of pericardium ("frosted heart"). We show that these features differ significantly from post mortem-formed inorganic crystalline deposits, mold colonies, or fat deposits known from various preserved anatomical objects stored for a long period of time. In our opinion, these pathologies fully justify the claim that chronic cavernous pulmonary, laryngeal, and intestinal tuberculosis presents itself as the most plausible diagnosis of Frederic Chopin and that rapidly progressing tubercular pericarditis became the immediate cause of his death.