Abstract

The conditions causing sudden death may be inherited and requires screening and counselling of the next of kin. In cases of death due to myocardial ischemia, identifying the early stages of myocardial pathology becomes difficult in postmortem as the gross changes do not appear for 24 to 48 hours following the ischemic damage to the heart. Hence, there is a need for a screening tool to identify the diseased part of the heart. AIMS: To determine the applicability of ultraviolet light for the detection of cardiac pathology at autopsy. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st January 2021 to 30th June 2022. METHODS AND MATERIALS: There were 200 cases in which there were 153 (76.5%) males and 47 (23.5%) females. All cases that were subjected to the medico-legal autopsy of more than 30 years old were included in our study. The cases were divided into 5-year intervals of age. Gross findings of the heart, if any were noted. The heart was dissected using the inflow-outflow method. The internal and external surfaces of the heart were seen under wood’s lamp fluorescence. Sections from areas that showed fluorescence under ultraviolet light were taken and subjected to histopathology examination. The specimen was processed, and a histopathology slide was prepared and examined. Routine haematoxylin & eosin staining was done. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: After the collection and compilation of data, statistical tests were applied to analyze the data. The mean and standard deviation (SD) were calculated for quantitative data, and for qualitative data, the proportion was calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software. RESULT: A significant relationship was observed between heart pathology in correlation to age and sex. The sensitivity of wood’s lamp was also found to be significant in fluorescent positive cases. By identifying discrepancies between gross, fluorescence, and microscopic findings, our findings suggest that histopathology has a major impact on the interpretation of heart pathology and determining the cause of death at autopsy. CONCLUSION: In this study, we have worked on a new aspect of the diagnostic property of ultraviolet light (UV) extending to recent and acute myocardial infarction besides old myocardial infarction that can aid pathologists in gross heart examination, especially in more guided sampling for histopathological examination. Histopathological studies provide the most accurate clues to better understand cardiac pathology.

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