[On the pathology of acute heart failure in bronchial asthma (author's transl)]

In cases dying with asthma, heart muscle stained by the Haematoxylin-basic-Fuchsin-Pikric acid-method showed multiple areas of focal ischaemic injury of single or small groups of muscle fibres. The localisation of these changes in the inner layers of the wall and septum of the ventricle and the pattern of the changes produced, suggest poor coronary perfusion. The changes are explained as the result of combined damage due to hypoxic circulatory disturbances of the heart muscle and the effects of catecholamines. The appearances may provide the morphological basis for accurate diagnosis.