TY - JOUR
T1 - Conduction system abnormalities in alcoholics with asymptomatic valvular disease who suffer sudden death
AU - Nishida, Naoki
AU - Ikeda, Noriaki
AU - Esaki, Rie
AU - Kudo, Keiko
AU - Tsuji, Akiko
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to express their special gratitude to Miss K. Miller (Royal English Language Centre, Fukuoka, Japan) for revising the English used in this manuscript. This report was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid (Nos. 12770219 and 13670427) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, Sports, and Culture of Japan.
PY - 2003/12
Y1 - 2003/12
N2 - We examined the cardiac conduction system of three alcohol abusers who died suddenly. Cases 1 and 2 showed mitral valve disorder (mitral valve prolapse and rheumatic valvular disease), while Case 3 showed mild Ebstein's anomaly. On examination of the conduction system, Cases 1 and 2 showed severe fibrofatty infiltration into the conduction system, and we conclude that these findings were probably a complication of alcohol abuse. Both cases also demonstrated severe small artery disease. The conduction system of Case 3 showed an anomalous location of the bundle of His with its fragmentation. These three cases suggest that such considerable conduction system abnormalities may be significant findings in alcohol abusers with valvular disease. We consider that alcohol intake may be one of the direct accelerating factors for arrhythmogenic potential to the abnormal conduction system in alcohol abusers who have asymptomatic valvular disease.
AB - We examined the cardiac conduction system of three alcohol abusers who died suddenly. Cases 1 and 2 showed mitral valve disorder (mitral valve prolapse and rheumatic valvular disease), while Case 3 showed mild Ebstein's anomaly. On examination of the conduction system, Cases 1 and 2 showed severe fibrofatty infiltration into the conduction system, and we conclude that these findings were probably a complication of alcohol abuse. Both cases also demonstrated severe small artery disease. The conduction system of Case 3 showed an anomalous location of the bundle of His with its fragmentation. These three cases suggest that such considerable conduction system abnormalities may be significant findings in alcohol abusers with valvular disease. We consider that alcohol intake may be one of the direct accelerating factors for arrhythmogenic potential to the abnormal conduction system in alcohol abusers who have asymptomatic valvular disease.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.legalmed.2003.07.001
DO - 10.1016/j.legalmed.2003.07.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 14602164
AN - SCOPUS:0242406846
SN - 1344-6223
VL - 5
SP - 212
EP - 219
JO - Legal Medicine
JF - Legal Medicine
IS - 4
ER -