[Diagnostic Value of Postmortem CT Angiography in Coronary Atherosclerosis].

OBJECTIVES: To explore the application value of postmortem computed tomography （CT） angiography on diagnosis of coronary atherosclerotic stenosis degree.

METHODS: Based on the previous experimental results, the postmortem CT angiography device of human isolated heart was improved. Different coronary atherosclerotic stenosis degree of sudden death cases was selected. Before the cardiac anatomy, hearts were removed out completely and CT angiography was performed immediately. The CT angiography results were compared with histopathological findings. Meanwhile, the advantages and disadvantages of the angiography device before and after improvement were compared.

RESULTS: The improved angiography device of isolated heart could get better imaging results. The postmortem CT angiography results had high consistency with the histopathological findings on diagnosis of coronary atherosclerotic stenosis degree. And the coronary artery lesions could be revealed more objectively and vividly by 3D reconstruction technology. However, CT angiography could only be used to examine the pathological changes of blood vessels, which might have some limitations on the diagnosis of cause of death.

CONCLUSIONS: Postmortem CT angiography can be used as an additional method for the conventional autopsy in the cases of coronary atherosclerosis.