Polyacrylamide-bismuth for postmortem coronary arteriography.

High quality postmortem human coronary arteriograms are obtained by injecting an acrylamide-bismuth mixture into the isolated aortic root under physiologic pressure. The acrylamide advances to the terminal size (20 micrometer.) arterioles, polymerizes, and remains within the vessels during the processing of tissue for histologic studies. Because the polyacrylamide does not affect the arterial wall morphology or the surrounding myocardium, the acrylamide-bismuth injection technique offers the clarity of the cast-corrosion procedure for postmortem radiograms fo the epicardial and intramural coronary arteries and adds the capability for histologic studies of arterial and myocardial tissues.