Ultrastructural aspects of vacuolar degeneration of cardiomyocytes in human endomyocardial biopsies

Vacuolar degeneration of cardiomyocytes is a histological finding commonly encountered during routine light microscopic examination of human endomyocardial biopsy specimens. The vacuoles appear as intracellular clear areas lacking myofibers. By itself, this finding has little diagnostic value, but may have important clinical implications when the vacuolar contents are of etiological significance (e.g., accumulation of abnormal metabolites), and the clinical importance is increased when the disease is treatable.

Source: Cardiovascular Pathology - July 4, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Genzou Takemura, Hiromitsu Kanamori, Hideshi Okada, Akiko Tsujimoto, Nagisa Miyazaki, Chihiro Takada, Yasuaki Hotta, Yoshiki Takatsu, Takako Fujiwara, Hisayoshi Fujiwara Source Type: research