engleski

Fatty infiltration of the right heart – histopathological human analysis

Purpose: Research over the last decade with imaging methods showed that right ventricular (RV) intramyocardial fat (MF) deposition was found in „normal“ heart, as age-related process, after myocardial infarction and in pathophysiological condition as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. There are numbers of unanswered scientific and clinical questions in this field because of imaging limitations in every day clinical practice. The purpose of this study is to find out presence/location of epicardial adipose tissue and MF in right atrium (RA) and RV free wall in human postmortal histopathologic analysis. Methods: This pilot study included histopathologic samples of the right heart of both sexes (6 males, 3 female) from the autopsy, aged 25-81 years. Samples were taken from the RA and RV free wall: basal portion below the tricuspid valve, middle and apical segment. The histopathological samples were prepared by standard protocol and stained with hematoxylin and eozin. The results are interpreted by experienced histologist and pathologist. The study was approved by Ethical Committees of Clinical Hospital Centre Osijek. Results: Preliminary results show that even in early adulthood in humans who have died from non-cardiac death, there are individual fat cells in the outer third of the myocardium in the RA sample and in the apical part of RV free wall. In elderly persons sample we found linear clusters of two to three layers of fat cells inside of RA wall, while the apical RV myocardium is infiltrate with adipose tissue. Conclusion: MF infiltration is a continuous process that begins probably in early lifetime induced by unknown trigger factor and pathophysiologic processes, progress with ageing with consequent structural and functional changes.

ageing process; fatty infiltration; right atrium; right ventricle

nije evidentirano