Postmortem delineation of infarcted myocardium. Coronary perfusion with nitro blue tetrazolium.

Perfusion of hearts with nitro blue tetrazolium resulted in gross formazan staining of intact myocardium, while infarcted zones and scars were unstained or were poorly stained. Subsequent perfusion with 3.7% formaldehyde solution provided a rigid specimen with well-preserved anatomical structures and landmarks suitable for detailed correlation of three-dimensional infarct distribution with clinical data. Specimens are particularly amenable to further gross dissection of mapping of lesions from interval slices, or both.