[Early ischemic injuries of the myocardium in sudden cardiac death]

Hearts of 38 men dying suddenly of acute coronary insufficiency and autopsied within 3 hours after death were examined. Foci of acute ischemic injuries in different parts of the myocardium were studied by histochemical methods for which the activity of succinate dehydrogenase and phosphorylase were determined. Early ischemic lesions in the myocardium were found in 22 fatalities, of them 5 had acute myocardial infarction, in 9 foci of ischemia were combined with the presence of postinfarction scars and fine focal cardiosclerosis, in 8 cases foci of early ischemia were the only changes in the myocardium. The majority of the decreased had stenosing atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries. Localization of ischemia foci in the myocardium did not always correspond to the severity of stenosing or the presence of thrombosis of the artery supplying the corresponding parts of the heart muscle. No foci of ischemia in the myocardium were found in 16 decreased who also had quite marked coronary atherosclerosis.