title: Right ventricular damage due to pulmonary embolism: examination of the number of infiltrating macrophages.
abstract: To investigate the pathological changes in the heart induced by pulmonary embolism, 20 autopsy cases of pulmonary embolism and 10 control cases of acute death from traumatic injury were examined. Adding to the routine hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, immunostaining with CD68 pan-macrophage marker was performed on the specimens obtained from both right and left ventricular walls. The number of macrophages was counted semi-quantitatively in 100 random high-power fields (HPF). Although typical pathological findings of myocardial infarction was not observed in any of the cases, 16 of the 20 pulmonary embolism cases showed an increase in the number of macrophages, mainly in the right ventricular wall. Four cases showed massive macrophage infiltration in the entire right ventricular wall. It is speculated that ischemia due to pulmonary embolism may be connected to its pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health Development, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yushima 1-5-45, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8519 Tokyo, Japan. iwadate.legm@med.tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kimiharu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwadate
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Kozo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanno
authors.forename: Seiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katsumura
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Keita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Isamu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yonemura
authors.forename: Yohko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D000097382:CD68 Molecule
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic; C067980:CD68 antigen, human; D000097382:CD68 Molecule