Postmortem Aortic Dissection: An Artifact of the Embalming Process

Aortic dissection (AD) is a serious condition that affects 3/100,000 individuals a year. Recently, a case report was published describing an embalmed patient with an aortic dissection. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of AD among 80 embalmed cadavers and confirm the AD with histopathologic evaluation. In seven cases of grossly identified AD, six were determined to be due to the embalming procedure and only one case of true antemortem AD was confirmed. These results suggest that aortic morphology can be altered by administration of the embalming fluid and that alterations can mimic AD, not only on gross inspection but also on postmortem imaging. Awareness of this embalming artifact may prevent misdiagnosis of an aortic dissection in an embalmed patient, a point particularly useful for autopsy pathology that may include postmortem examination of an embalmed patient.