ABSTRACT
References ........................................................................................................................................95
3.1 TECHNIQUES FOR EXAMINATION OF THE HEART*
The forensic pathologist must examine the heart carefully and methodically in order to obtain maximal information to establish the cause of death. In establishing the manner of death, exclusion of non-cardiac causes is as important as establishing an arrhythmogenic cardiac substrate, because many natural deaths are due to chronic heart diseases that lower the threshold for ventricular fibrillation, without an acute finding. However, it is becoming more important to pinpoint the cause
of natural deaths, for genetic counseling of surviving relatives, for instances of civil litigation, and in occasional deaths where the distinction between natural and accidental death may be difficult.
