Aschoff body

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Aschoff bodies or Aschoff nodules are painless nodules present in rheumatic fever. Fully developed Aschoff bodies consist of fibrinoid change in connective tissue, lymphocytes, occasional plasma cells, and abnormal characteristic histiocytes. They are Aschoff cell granulomas with a fibrinoid necrotic centre found in the myocardium surrounding blood vessels, and other regions of the body. Myocytes 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. The Aschoff bodies were discovered by the German pathologist Ludwig Aschoff.