Cardiac morphological changes in electrocution

L. Stanca, R.Zăvoi, A. M. Marinescu, M. Niculescu, D. Stanculescu

Abstract: Cardiac morphological changes in electrocution - case report. This study work reprezents the case of death from electrocution of a 55-years-old woman in rural medium, involving domestic electricity, pursiung the cardiac morphopathological changes associated more probably with the electric current effects. The identification of electrical marks (histopathologically comfirmed) at both hands has permitted us to affirm the cardiac involvment in the hand-to-hand curent path. The pattern of cardiac lesions consisted in morphopathological changes involving: a) the contractile myocardium (myofiber break-up); b) the excitoconductor tissue (degenerative changes) and also c) the small caliber blood vessel of arteriolar and capillary type in myocard, excitoconductor tissue and epicardium (hyperemia and parietal disruption). The methods used in histopathological examination were the usual HE stain and special stains as trichrome GS, silver stain and PAS, performing on histological serial sections from contractile myocardium and excitoconductor tissue (synoatrial node, atrioventricular node, His trunk and Purkinje rete). The morphopathological changes identified in this case of cardial injury from electrocution are mostly superimposed on the cardiac lesions associated with electric current effect reported in the speciality literature.
Keywords: electrocution, ventricular fibrillation, excitoconductor tissue, cardiac injuries