Morphological observation of idiopathic cardiomyopathy consisting of 9 cases encountered in sudden and unexpected death.
The present study consists of 9 cases of idiopathic cardiomyopathy which were divided into two types, i.e. 6 cases of the hypertrophic type and 3 cases of the dilated type. The former type was found in school-children and relatively younger adults, and the latter in various ages. In both types the hearts showed marked enlargement. The characteristic gross changes of the hypertrophic type were hypertrophy of the anterior wall of left ventricle and of the ventricular septum. Microscopically, the hypertrophied myocardium demonstrated a bizarre arrangement showing different size and shape of muscle fibers. In addition, the wall of small arteries and arterioles revealed circumscribed elastosis here and there. In the dilated type, the hearts showed marked dilatation of both ventricles, and microscopy revealed coagulation necrosis of the myocardial fibers and marked scar formation with slight inflammatory cell infiltration. The gross and microscopic changes in both types of idiopathic cardiomyopathy differed from one another in several respects, and the authors assumed that the differences indicate an independent etiology of both types in man.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology