Heart autopsy in ischemic heart disease. An autopsy protocol

The commonly performed autopsy of the heart often fails to demonstrate a satisfactory clinicopathological correlation in cases of death due to ischemic heart disease. An autopsy protocol devised specifically for the study of hearts from patients succumbing to ischemic heart disease is presented. This protocol has been employed in a consecutive series of 63 patients with ischemic heart disease dying at the medical department B, Rigshospitalet in the period 1 September 1975 to 1 May 1976. It comprises a meticulous histological examination of the coronary arteries, including quantitation of luminal narrowing. The ventricular myocardium is sliced transversely, and the Nitro-BT test is applied to identify and delineate acute myocardial infarction, the extent of which is quantitated by pointcounting. In a search for histopathological changes responsible for conducting disturbances, the sinoatrial and the atrioventricular nodes are examined histologically.