[Chromotrop-aniline blue stain for improved demonstration of fresh heart muscle fiber damage].

The Chromotrop-Anilinblue (CAB) trichrome staining method, developed for liver specimens, enables rapid detection of fresh damage to myocardial fibers by staining contraction-bands bright red. Dehiscence of the transverse striation, although yet unexplained in its pathogenetic significance, becomes visible with CAB staining. Overall, the method seems less sensitive to artefacts than former so-called infarction-staining-methods. Contraction-bands are not conclusive evidence for ischemic damage, as they also appear in traumatic heart damage (e.g. knife- and gunshot-wounds).