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Temporal bone fractures represent 22-66% of all skull fractures and most of them are associated with severe brain injury and are diagnosed by high-resolution computed tomography (CT). The authors performed a retrospective analysis of all trauma cases examined by high resolution CT over a 6-month period in an emergency service. From 126 patients examined for traumatic injuries, 47 (37.3%) presented cerebral or cranial lesions based on CT examinations and in 8 cases temporal bone fractures were diagnosed. 3 of the 8 analysed cases temporal bone fractures were suspected based on symptoms like otohematorrhea (2 cases) and facial palsy (1 case). The rest of 5 patients were investigated for suspicion of cranial or intracranial lesion with no specific clinical sign upon admission. The CT examination was performed as early as a few hours to as late as several weeks after the initial trauma. Epidemiological and radiological considerations are presented together with a pictorial review thus underlying the complexity of the temporal bone fractures. CT is the best initial and key radiological investigation in assessing temporal bone trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human heart beats around 2.5 billion times during a normal lifetime. Responsible for this function is the cardiac conduction system (CCS). This unique system is formed by specialized cardiomyocites, in which generate the cardiac impulse and conduct it from the atrial to the ventricular chambers. The functional components of the CCS are: sinoatrial node (SAN), atrioventricular node(AVN), atrioventricular bundle (AVB or bundle of His), the right and the left bundle branches (RBB and LBB) and the Purkinje network fibers. The CCS examination is a difficult task for most practicing pathologists, because it is macroscopically identical to the surrounding cardiac structures. For this reason,detailed anatomical knowledge is required to identify it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]