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Circulation, Vol 57, 385-391, Copyright © 1978 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

De subitaneis mortibus. XXVIII. Apoplexy of the heart

TN James

Apoplexy of the heart can be responsible for sudden and for recurring instability of cardiac rhythm and conduction, and for the clinical counterparts of syncope and sudden death. Every pathophysiological mechanism which produces cerebral apoplexy has its counterpart in apoplexy of the heart. Among the mechanisms documented are thrombosis, embolism and rupture of those special vessels supplying the sinus node, atrioventicular (A-V) node and His bundle. Apoplexy of the heart can occur either with or without significant or recognizable ventricular myocardial infarction. Acute vascular accidents within the critical centers of cardiac impulse formation and conduction deserve more frequent consideration in the explanation of unusual cases of "epilepsy", of seizure disorders of the elderly, of neurologic manifestations (which may be secondary as well as primary) of systemic diseases such as lupus erythematosus or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, and indeed of every case of otherwise unexplanined syncope or sudded death at any age.

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