[The so-called paling of the heart muscle and its value as an expression of ischemic myocardial damage].

Postmortem examination of human hearts demonstrated that fluorescent microscopic evidence of damage to the myocardium is present in most cases with so-called "paling". "Paling" is insufficient, however, to verify irreversible damage of the myocardium since nearly 1/3 of such cases have negative fluorescence microscopic reactions. In cases of acute coronary death with and without grossly visible signs of an ischemic myocardial damage necroses are demonstrable by fluorescence microscopy. This finding is not influenced by advanced autolysis. A fluorochromation with acridinorange at pH 7.0 is recommended in all cases of acute coronary death with and without paling or other macroscopic signs of acute ischemic damage to the heart muscle.