Postnatal persistence of spongy myocardium with embryonic blood supply.
Focal presence of the embryonic pattern of myoarchitecture and of a lacunary blood supply was found in the left ventricular wall of five infant hearts. Four of these hearts showed various malformations; one was a case of cardiac fibroma. The persisting intertrabecular spaces and sinusoids communicated with the ventricular lumen; there appeared to be some communication with the coronary branches. The intertrabecular spaces of the spongy myocardium were lined with a continuous layer of endothelial cells, thus resembling the microscopical appearance of myocardium of adult cold-blooded vertebrates rather than the embryonic phase of myocardial development of warm-blooded animals.
D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000473:pathology; D001344:Autopsy; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000473:pathology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000473:pathology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy