Pathology Cheat Sheet
Separate Valve and Infarct Lesions
Cardiac injury for NEET-PG: myocardial infarction necrosis, contraction bands, troponin, Aschoff bodies, mitral stenosis, endocarditis, and pericarditis.
MedNext Academy | 3 min read
Separate Valve and Infarct Lesions
Cardiac injury for NEET-PG: myocardial infarction necrosis, contraction bands, troponin, Aschoff bodies, mitral stenosis, endocarditis, and pericarditis.
Myocardial infarction, rheumatic and infective valve disease, and pericardial disease.
High-yield lines
- Myocardial infarction produces coagulative necrosis of the myocardium following coronary occlusion.
- Contraction band necrosis is an early feature of reperfused myocardial infarction.
- Troponin rises within a few hours of myocardial infarction and is highly cardiac-specific.
- The microscopic evolution of infarction moves from neutrophils to macrophages and then granulation tissue and scar over weeks.
- Rupture, arrhythmia, and heart failure are complications of myocardial infarction.
- Dressler syndrome is an autoimmune pericarditis occurring weeks after myocardial infarction.
- Rheumatic fever follows group A streptococcal pharyngitis through molecular mimicry.
- Aschoff bodies with Anitschkow cells are the pathognomonic granulomas of rheumatic carditis.
- Rheumatic heart disease most commonly causes mitral stenosis with a fish-mouth valve.
- Infective endocarditis produces bulky friable vegetations that can embolise and destroy valves.
- Libman-Sacks endocarditis is the sterile verrucous valvular vegetation of systemic lupus erythematosus.
- Fibrinous pericarditis produces a bread-and-butter appearance with a friction rub.
Mapped competency codes
- PA27.4
- PA27.5
- PA27.6
- PA27.7
- PA27.8
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This summary maps to PA27-cardiovascular-system.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is contraction band necrosis?
An early feature of reperfused myocardial infarction in which hypercontracted sarcomeres form dense eosinophilic transverse bands from calcium influx.
What is the pathognomonic lesion of rheumatic carditis?
The Aschoff body, a granuloma containing Anitschkow cells, seen in the myocardium during rheumatic fever.
Which valve is most affected in chronic rheumatic heart disease?
The mitral valve, classically producing mitral stenosis with a thickened fish-mouth or buttonhole orifice.
What is Libman-Sacks endocarditis?
Sterile verrucous vegetations on both surfaces of the heart valves, characteristic of systemic lupus erythematosus.
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