Postmortem Angiography: A Historical Review

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_D1828E689B10
Type
A part of a book
Publication sub-type
Chapter: chapter ou part
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Postmortem Angiography: A Historical Review
Title of the book
Atlas of Postmortem Angiography
Author(s)
Grabherr S., Cadas H., Riederer BM, Charlier P., Djonov V.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
ISBN
9783319285351
9783319285375
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2016
Chapter
4
Pages
53-70
Language
english
Abstract
Postmortem angiography (PMA) has a much longer history than most people would suspect. Unfortunately, the greater part of this history is still unknown or has been lost. However, a detailed review of the existing literature indicates that it began in the first days after the discovery of x-rays. This chapter explains the history of the visualization of vessels, starting with casting techniques to explore the interior of the hollow anatomic structure, leading to the first injections into the vascular system and the first radiologic PMA images, finally reaching the zenith of classic PMA at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. During that time, various methods have been applied using different injection materials and techniques as well as different preliminary treatments of organs of interest. The types of injected substances can be divided into six groups: vascular casts, corpuscular preparations in gelatin or agar, corpuscular preparations in aqueous solution, hydrosoluble preparations, oily liquids, and miscellaneous formulations. Furthermore, the visualization methods have varied. In the beginning, simple macroscopic observation was used, and injected vessels could be viewed by the naked eye. Eventually, the methods for visualizing blood vessels became more and more sophisticated. With the introduction of radiologic methods, PMA was finally born. Most often, different techniques were combined, allowing comparison of angiography to macroscopic dissection and histology, among others. Although the techniques varied considerably, most of them had one common feature: they were applicable only on single organs or specific for defined anatomic structures. This limitation may be the reason that the classic methods of PMA are not used today in forensic imaging and that new techniques have been developed instead. However, to understand the problems with postmortem vascular injection and perfusion techniques, it is essential to revisit the historical development of the methodology of vascular perfusion and visualization.
Keywords
Postmortem angiography Vascular casting Review Postmortem radiology Contrast agent
Create date
10/11/2017 16:02
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:51
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