RESEARCH ARTICLE
Primary Cardiac Fibroma and Cardiac Conduction System Alterations in a Case of Sudden Death of a 4-month-old Infant
Donatella Mecchia*, Anna Maria Lavezzi , Luigi Matturri
"Lino Rossi" Research Center for the study and prevention of the unexpected perinatal death and the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 47
Last Page: 49
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-7-47
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401307010047
Article History:
Received Date: 20/3/2013Revision Received Date: 30/4/2013
Acceptance Date: 02/5/2013
Electronic publication date: 31/5/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
A 4-month-old female infant considered to be in good health died suddenly and unexpectedly. Post- mortem examination was requested, with clinical diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome. At autopsy the infant was described in good health. Histo- logical examination of the heart found a cardiac fibroma compressing the atrio-ventricular node and the examination of the cardiac conduction system showed an accessory fiber of Mahaim (nodo-ventricular) and cartilaginous metaplasia of the cardiac fibrous body. Probably the concomitant presence of cardiac conduction system abnormalities and a septal fibroma, compressing the atrio-ventricular node, could have an important role in causing the sudden death.
Keywords: SIDS, Primary cardiac fibroma, cardiac conduction system..
