[Histological investigations of the myocardium in unnaturally deceased persons (author's transl)].

Histo-pathological investigations carried out in the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Martin-Luther-University of Halle on 6 differently localized myocardial portions (1,080 preparations) from the autopsy material of a total of 90 persons who had died in the course of 1973, revealed massive inflammatory cellular infiltrates (focal interstitial roundcelled myocarditis) in 18.9 percent and insignificant concentrations of round cells or individual mononuclear inflammation cells in 60 percent of cases. an evaluation of the autopsy data (age and sex ratio, classification of causes of death and attempted proof of pre-existing infectious and heart diseases or their symptoms) is followed by a discussion of under and overvaluating the occurrence of interstitial myocardial cells in the cases under investigation and, with regard to the cause of death, in the cases of an unexpected and sudden, presumably natural, death.