Comparison of different techniques for the postmortem diagnosis of myocardial infarction

A study was performed on 74 medicolegal autopsy cases for the purpose of comparing the reliability of four different techniques (haematoxylin-eosin stain, acridine orange method, formazan test and K/Na ratio) used for the postmortem diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Although the results showed that the formazan test and K/Na ratio give a good reliability to rule out a myocardial infarction, the most specific technique for the diagnosis of infarct is the formazan test.