The electrically silent right atrium

Pathological studies in sinoatrial disorder (sick sinus syndrome).

“…There have been, however, very few reports of necropsy studies; indeed, a review of the published material produced only 11 cases of sinoatrial disorder of a chronic nature, in which some specialised examination of the conduction system had been undertaken at necropsy (Rossi, 1969;Patton et al, 1970;Rasmussen, 1971;Rosen et al, 1971;Rubinstein et al, 1972;Kaplan et al, 1973;Kulbertus et al, 1973;Warembourg et al, 1974;Sauerwein et al, 1976). Of these, the morphology of the sinoatrial node, atrial musculature, and the other parts of the specialised conducting system of Received for publication 14 December 1976 the heart, together with its vascular supply were adequately described in only 7 (Rosen et al, 1971;Kaplan et al, 1973;Kulbertus et al, 1973;Warembourg et al, 1974;Sauerwein et al, 1976).…”

Persistent atrial standstill developed in a patient with rheumatic heart disease: Electrophysiological and histological study

“…An increased load on atria due to hemodynamic dysfunction in mitral valve deformity, 2. digitalis toxicity, and 3. possible inflammatory disorder. Prolapsing of mitral leaflet (2,6) and mitral regurgitation of unknown etiology (10) have been observed in the cases of persistent atrial standsti ll , but to our knowledge the persistent atrial standstill, developed from atrial fibrillation a nd associated with rheumatic heart disease, has not been documented in the literature except once (12) . It has been well known that toxic doses of digitalis may cause transient atrial standstill (15), but it has not been known whether digitalis mayor may not cause persi tent atrial standstill.…”