Figure 1

Infarct necrosis. The first change is lost of contraction with stretching of the myocardium in flaccid paralysis, resulting in a very early elongation of sarcomeres and nuclei (A) already visible within 30 minutes in experimental infarction. B, polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration from the periphery of the infarct after 6–8 hours. In the largest infarcts this infiltration arrests, along a line (maximal myocardial stretching in central part of infarct?) with occasional abscess-like formation (C). This infiltration disappears by lysis of the leukocytes, without evidence of myocellular colliquation or destruction (D). The myocardial cells maintain they sarcomeric registered order even in terminal healing phase. The repair process is carried out by macrophagic digestion (E) – and not by granulation tissue – ending in a compact and dense scar (F).