Application research on different histochemical staining methods for identifying acute myocardial ischemia and sudden death

Objective To explore the value of different histological staining methods in the identification of acute myocardial ischemia and sudden death in the forensic medicine.Methods HE staining,Nagar-Olsen staining,Heidenhain staining,Heidenhain hematoxylin staining were used to observe the morphology of myocardium in 28 patients with acute myocardial infarction,10 coronary heart disease patients with non-cardiogenic sudden death and 10 normal controls.Results The positive rates were 75%,54% and 58% in AMI patients by Nagar-Olsen staining,Heidenhain staining,Heidenhain hematoxylin staining,respectively.The positive rates were 20%,10% and 10% in non-cardiogenic sudden death patients.The staining was negative in normal controls.The positive expression rate was not significantly different among three methods in two groups(P0.05).The positive rates were significantly different among three groups(P0.01).The strongly positive rate by Heidenhain hematoxylin staining was 86% in AMI patients(12/14).The myocardial infarct was obvious in the edge by Nagar-Olsen staining.HE staining results in three groups displayed the distinct changes of nuclear in the infarct area,and edema,red cytoplasmic staining and no significant lesions of the nucleus in non-infarct myocardium.Conclusion Nagar-Olsen,Heidenhain and Heidenhain hematoxylin staining methods may be useful in the diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia and sudden death.The combination of HE staining and Heidenhain hematoxylin staining could improve the diagnostic rate,and HE staining and Nagar-Olsen staining could identify the area of infarction.