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Postmortem: Histochemical Techniques

  • Chapter
Myocardial Infarction

Part of the book series: Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine ((DICM,volume 14))

Abstract

Gross anatomic observation can be used to accurately diagnose, locate, and size myocardial infarcts at autopsy when the infarct is sufficiently developed (see Ideker, p. 347), i.e., at least 18–24h old, and its borders are clearly defined. Similarly, histologic approaches to infarct identification and quantification are reliable only after 12–18h of in vivo development, and are time consuming, expensive, and tedious. This chapter is concerned with macroscopic techniques for quantifying myocardial infarcts in experimental and human hearts; it is specifically concerned with the use of tetrazolium dyes. These techniques have the major advantage of identifying myocardial necrosis due to ischemic injury routinely by 3–6h and experimentally as early as 1 h after the onset of myocardial infarction.

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Authors
  1. John T. Fallon
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Galen S. Wagner M.D.

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© 1982 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague / Boston / London

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Fallon, J.T. (1982). Postmortem: Histochemical Techniques. In: Wagner, G.S. (eds) Myocardial Infarction. Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7452-4_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7452-4_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-7454-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7452-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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