Pathomorphological characteristics of cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction.

Dilatational, hypertrophic, aneurysmal, and endocardial variants of remodeling were revealed in the postinfarction heart. The most prevalent dilatational remodeling is characterized by uniform or nonuniform elongation of ventricular cavities and increase in ventricular volume. Characteristic features of the hypertrophic type are hypertrophied interventricular septa and left ventricular wall and reduced or unchanged left ventricular volume. Pronounced changes in the configuration of the left ventricle due to the formation of single or multiple aneurysms were typical of aneurysmal remodeling. Endocardial remodeling was characterized by cicatricial changes and smoothed relief of the parietal endocardium. These variants and forms of remodeling determine disturbances in intracardial hemodynamic and thanatogenesis in the postinfarction period.