Focal arterial lesions causing severe narrowing of the vessels supplying the AV or sinus nodes were found in a subset of SIDS victims, suggesting a potential contributory pathogenic factor.
Cardiac conducting tissue from the hearts of 40 victims of sudden infant death syndrome was examined microscopically by serial section. In five hearts there were marked narrowing of the major artery supplying the atrioventricular node. In another there was similar narrowing of the artery supplying the sinus node. The arterial lesions were focal and characterized by cellular intimal thickening which severely narrowed the vessel lumen. This arterial anomaly may be a contributory factor in the pathogenesis of some cases of sudden infant death.
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Anderson et al. (1982) studied this question.
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