Overview of Atrophic Cardiac Remodeling Cardiac remodeling encompasses the many biochemical and molecular adaptations that the heart initiates in response to altered demand ( Figure 3.1 ). Atrophic remodeling occurs in response to ventricular or hemodynamic unloading caused by such…
Introduction Metabolism comes from the Greek word meaning ‘change,’ referring to the transformation of potential energy stored in circulating substrates such as glucose and fatty acids to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), thereby driving cardiac contraction and relaxation. Early workers delineated carbohydrate…
Acknowledgments We would first like to apologize to the many authors whose studies were excluded due to space constraints. We would like to thank Dr. Andrea Portbury and Chelsea Cyr for critical reading of the manuscript. The Heart Fields and…
Open full size image Investigative information Investigation of sudden cardiac death (SCD), like all other sudden, unexpected, or unnatural death, relies heavily on a thorough and comprehensive investigation of the circumstances surrounding death, including a scene investigation, interview with family…
Central concept figure: evolution of cell therapy for myocardial repair and regeneration Introduction The late 1990s and early 2000s was a time period when major advances in stem cell biology were occurring . In this milieu, the concept of cell-based…
Open full size image General clinicopathologic considerations Cardiac transplantation is an accepted therapeutic option which provides long-term survival for many patients with end-stage heart failure. Over 140,000 heart transplants at over 400 centers worldwide were recorded by the International Society…
Open full size image Incidence and classification Cardiac tumors are rare and when they occur, they are most frequently benign. The autopsy incidence of primary cardiac tumors varies greatly by study with estimates ranging from 0.001% to 0.3% and a…
Central concept figure: comprehensive medical device pathology Introduction The last several decades have witnessed a virtual explosion in the armamentarium of interventional and surgical procedures and medical devices available to manage cardiovascular diseases. For example, percutaneous treatment of coronary artery…
Open full size image With a worldwide prevalence of over 100 million cases, valvular heart disease remains a significant human and clinical burden, necessitating over an estimated 400,000 interventions annually worldwide and estimated to surpass 850,000 by 2050 . Three…
Open full size image Normal pericardium Structure Anatomy The pericardium is a bilayered sac-like structure surrounding the heart and the origin of the large blood vessels. The outer layer of this sac is called the parietal pericardium, which consists of…