Aschoff body 3211935 214954032 2008-05-26T01:43:35Z 66.76.19.172 {{Cleanup|date=February 2008}} [[Image:Aschoff Body in Rheumatic Myocarditis.jpg|thumb|Aschoff body in Rheumatic [[Myocarditis]] ]] '''Aschoff bodies''' or '''Aschoff nodules''' are painless [[Nodule (medicine)|nodules]] present in [[rheumatic fever]]. It is an area of focal interstitial myocardial inflammation. Fully developed Aschoff bodies consist of fibrinoid change in [[connective tissue]], [[lymphocyte]]s, occasional [[plasma cell]]s, and abnormal characteristic [[histiocyte]]s. They are Aschoff cell [[granulomas]] with a fibrinoid [[necrosis|necrotic]] centre found in the [[myocardium]] surrounding [[blood vessel]]s, and other regions of the body. [[Myocyte]]s in the myocardium can merge with the Aschoff cells to form giant cells of Aschoff, In addition, there are [[leukocytes]], [[lymphocytes]], [[eosinophils]] and [[plasma cells]] and Anitschkow myocytes. The Aschoff bodies were discovered independently by the German pathologist [[Ludwig Aschoff]] 1904 and one year later by [[Paul Rudolf Geipel]]. Image link: http://erl.pathology.iupui.edu/C603/GENE426.HTM [[de:Aschoff-Knoten]] [[sv:Aschoffs knuta]] [[Category:Histopathology]] {{pathology-stub}}