Persistence of spongy myocardium with embryonic blood supply in an adult.

Gross presence of the embryonic pattern of myoarchitecture and of a sinusoid blood supply was found in the apical part of the left ventricle in a man who had been diagnosed with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy during life and who died suddenly at age 21 years. This is a first description of this finding in an adult with an otherwise normal heart and coronary arteries. The features of the cardiac lesions provide support for the current embryological views on ontogenesis of human myocardial structure and blood supply.

Cardiomyopathy and changes of skeletal muscles in cystic fibrosis.

Cardiomyopathy (CMP) was found in 26 children with cystic fibrosis (CF), 24 of them died, the majority of them during the first 3 years of life. Only 4 of them were older than 10 years. 2 children are living. CMP must be suspected in young children with CF and early heart failure. When CMP is the cause of sudden death, CF has to be suspected. The combination of changes in skeletal and cardiac muscles in CF is reported here for the first time.