Contraction band necrosis is a type of uncontrolled cell death (necrosis

Necrosis

Necrosis is the premature death of cells in living tissue. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, toxins, or trauma. This is in contrast to apoptosis, which is a naturally occurring cause of cellular death...

) unique to cardiac myocytes and thought to arise in reperfusion from hypercontraction, which results in sarcolemmal

Sarcolemma

The sarcolemma is the cell membrane of a muscle cell . It consists of a true cell membrane, called the plasma membrane, and an outer coat made up of a thin layer of polysaccharide material that contains numerous thin collagen fibrils...

 rupture.

It is a characteristic histologic finding of a recent

Timeline of myocardial infarction pathology

This table gives an overview of the pathology seen in myocardial infarction by time after obstruction.For the first ~30 minutes no change at all can be seen by gross examination or by light microscopy in histopathology...

 myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 (heart attack) that was partially reperfused.

The name of the histopathologic

Histopathology

Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease...

 finding comes from the appearance under the microscope; contraction bands are thick intensely eosinophilic staining bands (typically 4-5 micrometre

Micrometre

A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...

s wide) that span the short axis of the myocyte. They can be thought of extra thick striae, typical of cardiac muscle

Cardiac muscle

Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found in the walls and histologic foundation of the heart, specifically the myocardium. Cardiac muscle is one of three major types of muscle, the others being skeletal and smooth muscle...

 and striated muscle

Striated muscle

Striated muscle tissue is a form of fibers that are combined into parallel fibers. More specifically, it can refer to:* Cardiac muscle .* Skeletal muscle* Branchiomeric muscles...

.

Pathophysiology

Contraction band necrosis is thought to arise by two mechanisms:

1. a calcium
   Calcium
   Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
   
   -dependent mechanism - activation of the contractile machinery of the cell via its usual mechanism, calcium, which is in excess due to ischemia
   Ischemia
   In medicine, ischemia is a restriction in blood supply, generally due to factors in the blood vessels, with resultant damage or dysfunction of tissue. It may also be spelled ischaemia or ischæmia...
   
   .
2. a calcium-independent mechanism, as seen in rigor
   Rigor mortis
   Rigor mortis is one of the recognizable signs of death that is caused by a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff and difficult to move or manipulate...
   
    - activation of the contractile machinery in the setting of low ATP.

Reperfusion associated cell death has been modulated (reduced) in animal studies

Animal studies

Animal studies is a recently recognized field in which animals are studied in a variety of cross-disciplinary ways. Scholars from fields as diverse as: art history, anthropology, biology, film studies, geography, history, psychology, literary studies, museology, philosophy, and sociology; and from...

 and is an area of active research, which holds the potential to significantly reduce the morbidity (disease burden) and mortality

Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...

 (death) of cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease

Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...

.

See also

• Myocardial infarction
  Myocardial infarction
  Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
  
  
• Timeline of myocardial infarction pathology
  Timeline of myocardial infarction pathology
  This table gives an overview of the pathology seen in myocardial infarction by time after obstruction.For the first ~30 minutes no change at all can be seen by gross examination or by light microscopy in histopathology...
  
  
• Guanylyl cyclase

External links

• Contraction band necrosis - pathologypics.com