Abstract
Eighty-eight autopsied cases were analyzed in order to clarify the significance of papillary muscle fibrosis in ischemic heart diseases without typical myocardial infarction. The photographs of the sections from the coronary arteries were taken to measure stenotic grades of the lumen by the manual optical pictures analyzing system. The specimens from each papillary muscle devided into five vertical sections. Quantities of fibrosis within these stained sections were measured by the point counting method.
Results were as follows;
1) The fibroses within papillary muscles were more frequent in the distal portion of the left ventricular free walls than in the proximal portions.
2) There was no significant difference of fibroses between the anterior and posterior papillary muscles.
3) The papillary muscle fibroses well correlated with the coronary sclerosis and the aging.
