Table 1.
Clinical diagnosis and autopsy findings of each case.
| Group | Age | Sex | Clinical diagnosis | Heart weight (g) | Ejection fraction (%) | LV wall thickness (mm) | Estimated LV volume (mm2) | Cardiomyocyte length (mm) | ICD width (mm) | ICD scattering (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | 68 | M | Lung cancer | 390 | – | 13 | 311.0 | 129.8 | 2.74 | 8.79 |
| 65 | F | Chronic myelogenous leukemia | 350 | – | 13 | 216.8 | 99.7 | 2.94 | 8.05 | |
| 63 | M | Prostatic cancer | 415 | – | 12 | 293.7 | 105.1 | 2.75 | 7.27 | |
| 81 | F | Subarachnoid hemorrhage | 355 | 79.9 | 15 | 198.7 | 96.5 | 2.56 | 4.74 | |
| 26 | F | Malnutrition | 220 | 64.3 | 13 | 716.3 | 99.9 | 1.31 | 3.65 | |
| 71 | M | Gastric cancer | 410 | – | 16 | 117.8 | 88.1 | 2.10 | 3.24 | |
| 71 | M | Gallbladder cancer, liver failure | 345 | – | 15 | 223.8 | 86.5 | 2.78 | 6.06 | |
| 75 | M | Gastric cancer | 515 | 71.0 | 16 | 238.8 | 93.2 | 3.42 | 6.79 | |
| Chronic heart failure | 53 | F | CHF, MVR, Myasthenia gravis | 285 | 24.3 | 5 | 633.0 | 106.5 | 4.94 | 12.14 |
| 88 | F | CHF, Old myocardial infarction | 400 | 60.4 | 8 | 1044.6 | 87.8 | 5.14 | 8.86 | |
| 78 | M | CHF, Aortic valve stenosis | 820 | 61.8 | 12 | 235.6 | 99.5 | 4.12 | 7.65 | |
| 85 | M | CHF | 610 | 48.6 | 17 | 1283.3 | 104.4 | 3.96 | 7.50 | |
| 63 | M | CHF, Acute myocardial infarction | 620 | – | 18 | 993.5 | 98.4 | 3.15 | 5.75 | |
| 21 | M | CHF, Malignant lymphoma | 330 | 51.3 | 12 | 714.7 | 94.1 | 1.15 | 3.14 | |
| 84 | M | CHF, Coronary arteriovenous fistula | 815 | 54.1 | 13 | 112.3 | 87.5 | 2.60 | 6.06 | |
| 62 | M | CHF, Acute myocardial infarction | 775 | 50.0 | 15 | 1162.4 | 127.1 | 4.70 | 9.71 | |
| 51 | M | CHF, Acute myeloid leukemia | 595 | – | 11 | 1698.0 | 101.3 | 2.91 | 9.00 | |
| Dilated cardiomyopathy | 28 | M | DCM | 465 | 20.0 | 11 | 888.3 | 108.5 | 6.39 | 17.00 |
| 64 | M | DCM | 430 | 28.0 | 4 | 2186.5 | 113.9 | 5.67 | 25.60 | |
| 28 | M | DCM | 410 | – | 7 | 1873.2 | 122.2 | 5.28 | 25.00 | |
| 72 | M | Combined valvular disease, CHF | 730 | 13.0 | 7 | 4472.8 | 133.5 | 5.81 | 18.70 | |
| 60 | M | DCM | 650 | 13.4 | 7 | 2552.5 | 115.9 | 4.76 | 23.56 |
Twenty-one autopsy cases were retrieved from the archives of the Department of Pathology at Akita University, Japan. We classified these cases into three groups (control, CHF, and DCM) based on the clinical diagnoses and histological findings. The average ages of the patients in each group were as follows: control, 65.0 years; CHF, 65.0 years; and DCM, 50.4 years. The patients in the DCM group were younger than those in the other two groups; in addition, all DCM patients were male. Average heart weights in each group were as follows: control, 375.0 g; CHF, 583.3 g; and DCM, 537.0 g.
In each case, the cardiomyocyte length, ICD width, and ICD scattering were all inversely correlated with the EF and positively correlated with the estimated LV volume.
CHF chronic heart failure, DCM dilated cardiomyopathy, ICD intercalated disc, LV left ventricle, MVR mitral valve regurgitation.