Infarction of the Cardiac Atria

Abstract

THE diagnosis of acute infarction of the atrium of the heart is made very rarely in comparison with the probable frequency of its actual occurrence. This condition is seldom recognized during life. Atrial infarction occurred either as an isolated entity or as a concomitant finding with ventricular infarction in 17 per cent of the 182 cases of proved myocardial infarction reported in 1942 by Cushing et al.¹ Bean,² however, observed infarction of the atrium in only 3 of 300 autopsies involving myocardial infarction, and Wartman and Hellerstein³ recorded a 7 per cent frequency among 132 infarcted hearts; isolated atrial lesions . . .