Myocardial Contrast Defect Associated with Thrombotic Coronary Occlusion: Pre-Autopsy Diagnosis of a Cardiac Death with Post-Mortem CT Angiography

Abstract

We report the case of a female who died of suspected acute myocardial infarction. Post-mortem CT angiography (PMCTA) was performed with intravascular contrast infusion before the standard autopsy, and it successfully demonstrated the complete thrombotic occlusion of a coronary artery and also a corresponding perfusion defect on myocardium. We herein describe the PMCTA findings of a cardiac death with special emphasis on the potential benefits of this novel CT technique in forensic practice.