Comparison of DNA preparation results from autopsy tissue specimens with or without previous postmortal CT angiography

Abstract During postmortal CT angiography the body is perfused with lipophilic contrast medium soluted in liquid paraffin. The present study investigated, whether molecular pathology investigations on autopsy tissues following this procedure are impaired or not. Heart tissue from fifteen cases following this type of CT scan as well as the same number of control cases matched for age, gender, pathological findings in the heart, time between death and autopsy, as well as fixation time of the samples were analyzed. DNA preparation was carried out employing a commercially available silica-column based system. The extraction results were quantified and real-time PCR was carried out using an assay for a point mutation frequently assessed in clinical pathology. Low and highly variable recovery rates of DNA were observed both in the study group as well as in the control group. The presence of liquid paraffin and lipophilic contrast medium did not interact with tissue fixation and the DNA preparation technique. Further, no differences were seen between the PCR results from the material with or without previous postmortal CT angiography. Hence, molecular pathology applications can be carried out successfully on autopsy tissues regardless of previous CT angiography.