Heart Wall Is Thicker on Postmortem Computed Tomography Than on Ante Mortem Computed Tomography: The First Longitudinal Study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the postmortem changes of the heart wall on postmortem (PM) computed tomography (CT) in comparison with those on ante mortem CT (AMCT), and in comparison with the pathological findings, obtained in the same patients.Materials and MethodsWe studied 57 consecutive patients who had undergone AMCT, PMCT, and pathological autopsy in our tertiary care hospital between April 2009 and December 2010. PMCT was performed within 20 hours after death, followed by pathological autopsy. The cardiac chambers were measured at five sites on both AMCT and PMCT by two board-certified radiologists who were not provided with clinical information. The differences in heart wall thickness between AMCT with and without contrast medium, between AMCT and PMCT, and between PMCT and pathological anatomy were evaluated statistically. Confounding factors of postmortem change such as gender, presence of arteriosclerosis, the organ related to cause of death, age, and elapsed time since death were examined statistically.ResultsNo significant differences were observed on AMCT in comparison of contrasted and non-contrasted images. The heart wall was significantly thicker on PMCT than on AMCT (p < 0.0001) at all five measurement sites. The heart wall was significantly thicker on PMCT than on pathology specimens when measured in accordance with pathological standard mensuration. However, no significant difference was observed between PMCT measurements and those of pathology specimens at any site when the papillary muscles and epicardial fat were included. No significant association was found between postmortem change in heart wall thickness and gender, presence of arteriosclerosis, the organ related to cause of death, age, or elapsed time since death.ConclusionThis is the first longitudinal study to confirm greater thickness of heart wall on postmortem images compared with ante mortem images, in the same patients. Furthermore, the postmortem changes on CT were supported by the pathological findings.

Radiation dosimetry of [131I]ICF01012 in rabbits: Application to targeted radionuclide therapy for human melanoma treatment

“…Discrepancy between premortem and postmortem volume of some organs are widely described in literature. Heart volumes decrease from about 50% between premortem and postmortem states. Additionally, some organs like spleen are highly sensitive to the utilization of anesthesia drugs .…”

The role of angiography in the congruence of cardiovascular measurements between autopsy and postmortem imaging

“…However, the great importance of the PM changes does not allow an application of the clinical radiologic parameters and reference values [17][18][19][20][21]. For that reason, the necessity to find, thanks to MPMCTA, new radiological CV measurements that correlate with autopsy finding became an essential field of research in PM imaging.…”

“…It is therefore essential to find radiological measurements thanks to MPMCTA that correlate to the ones obtained at autopsy. Furthermore, the clinical radiologic parameters could not simply be applied because in postmortem imaging, there are other reference values [17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…However, to our knowledge, there are not any studies on the CV measurements on MPMCTA which includes comparisons with autopsy finding, although CV measurements on native postmortem CT scan already exist in some studies [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

A comparison of embalming fluids on the structures and properties of tissue in human cadavers

“…Measurements of organs and tissue of human cadavers have been reported in literature (Ishida et al, ; Okuma et al, ; Takahashi et al, ). Changes have been reported such as a decrease in the size of the aorta after death and bilateral adrenal glands (Ishida et al, ; Takahashi et al, ).…”