Sudden cardiac death (SCD) has been attributed to the development of lethal dysrhythmias in coronary heart disease victims, and several recent autopsy surveys showed that 10 to 50% of SCD patients had unsuspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The present study concerned histopathological findings of the conduction system in 49 SCD (within six hours of the onset of acute symptoms) patients;...

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) has been attributed to the development of lethal dysrhythmias in coronary heart disease victims, and several recent autopsy surveys showed that 10 to 50% of SCD patients had unsuspected acute myocardial infaretion (AMI). The present study concerned histopathologic findings of the conduction system in 49 SCD (within six hours of the onset of acute symptoms) patients; 3...

In the mammalian heart a conduction system of nodes and conducting cells generates and transduces the electrical signals evoking myocardial contractions. Specialized pacemaker cells initiating and controlling cardiac contraction rhythmicity are localized in an anatomically identifiable structure of myocardial origin, the sinus node. We previously showed that in mammalian embryos sinus node cell...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of subtle morphologic substrates, clinically unrecognizable, underlying sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young people with apparently normal heart. METHODS In the time interval 1979--1998, 273 consecutive cases of SCD in young people (< or =35 years) which occurred in the Veneto Region of Italy were prospectively studied. Follow...

Cardiac conduction is mediated by gap junction channels that are formed by connexin (Cx) protein subunits. The connexin family of proteins consists of more than 20 members varying in their biophysical properties and ability to combine with other connexins into heteromeric gap junction channels. The mammalian heart shows regional differences both in connexin expression profile and in degree of e...

The effect of digoxin on A-V conduction in 19 patients with known disease of their conduction tissue was studied while a demand pacing system was in position. Fifteen had transient complete heart block after myocardial infarction and four had chronic intermittent complete heart block. The patients were studied on return to sinus rhythm.In no instance was a return to either second- or third-degr...

The clinical and pathological findings in two patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and two patients with T helper cell prolymphocytic leukaemia affecting the heart are described. All four patients had extensive malignant disease, with infiltration of multiple organs. Cardiac infiltration varied from microscopic foci in one case, to grossly identifiable tumour deposits destroying and replacing n...

electrophysiologic study of the pacemaker in the sinoatrial node of the rabbit heart. Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat 61: 96109 Truex RC (1976) The sinoatrial node and its connections with the atrial tissues. In The Conduction System of the Heart, edited by HJJ Wellens, KI Lie, MJ Janse. Leiden, Stenfert Kroese B.V., 209-227 Van Capelle FJL, Janse MJ (1976) Influence of geometry on the shape of the p...

Cardiovascular aging is a physiological process gradually leading to structural degeneration and functional loss of all the cardiac and vascular components. Conduction system is also deeply influenced by the aging process with relevant reflexes in the clinical side. Age-related arrhythmias carry significant morbidity and mortality and represent a clinical and economical burden. An important and...