Aschoff's body
Last reviewed 01/2018
This is the pathognomonic lesion of rheumatic fever.
Rheumatic fever results in an exudative and proliferative inflammatory response affecting the connective tissue, mainly the heart, joints and skin.
The presence of Aschoff bodies represent a progression of this inflammatory process. Aschoff bodies are characterised by:
- an aggregation of large cells with polymorphic nuclei and basophilic cytoplasm
- cells are arranged as a rosette around an avascular fibrinoid core
- the aggregate is generally perivascular