Evaluation of a lactate dehydrogenase-nitro blue tetrazolium method of detecting unapparent myocardial infarction...

Using a standardised block technique, the microscopic lactate dehydrogenase-nitro blue tetrazolium (LDH-nitro BT) and conventional haematoxylin and eosin staining methods were used to investigate the presence of myocardial infarction in a series of fifty forensic autopsies. The microscopic LDH-nitro BT method was found to be reliable; however, it did not reveal the presence of myocardial infarction in any of the cases where this had not been suspected.