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
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.