[Forensic usefulness of coronarometric studies (author's transl)]

Authors examine the forensic usefulness and scope of angiometric studies in cases of sudden death that are presumably caused by coronary heart disease (CHD). Hearts of 35 men aged between 40 and 59 years who died of CHD are studied angiographically, morphologically and microscopically. The control group consists of 34 men of the same range of age who died of unnatural causes. Following to a schematic model with special regard to hemodynamic aspects and the degree of the stenosis a stenosis score is made up for each heart and correlated on a diagram with the corresponding heart weight. It appears that the cases of both groups are different areas but are showing a certain degree of overlap. The variation within both groups is discussed. With regard to the CHD group it is presumed that the factors causing death are too variable as to be defined by the deviced methods exclusively. The causal role of factors other than atherosclerosis in the occurrence of CHD is discussed. Authors conclude that the methods examined could be useful in special forensic problems.