Histopathological evaluation of tissue undergoing thermal insult

Abstract

Context: Thermal insult is the major cause of thermal injury or death and in case of death due to thermal injury the body often has to be recovered from the site. Histologically, one can predict whether the victim was alive or dead when the fire was on going. However, determination of probable cause of thermal insult to which victim subjected to be difficult when the victim's body is found somewhere else from the crime scene or accident site or found alone. Hence, histopathological evaluation of the tissue which has undergone thermal insult in such conditions could help to place evidence in front of law officials, regarding probable condition, or scenario at time of burn of victim. Aims: Keeping this as a criteria in this study we aim to evaluate burnt tissue histopathologically, that undergone various degree of thermal insult, which simulates various real life scenario for mortality in burn cases. Settings and Design: We evaluate the changes in hematoxylin and eosin staining pattern of tissue which has undergone thermal insult compared to normal tissue and also the progressive changes in staining pattern, architectural, and cellular details. Methods and Material: Samples were taken from the patients, in various surgical procedures. Each sample was cut into five parts with close margins so that each burnt tissue is evaluated for same field or region. The tissue that obtained was immediately subjected to varying degree of temperature over a specific period so as to simulate the various real-life condition. Then the tissues were fixed, processed, and stained with routine H and E staining. The processed slides of tissue were examined under the microscope, and the staining, and architectural changes were evaluated and described. Results: Results show that there was a progressive changes in the architectural pattern of the epithelium and connective tissue showing cleft formation and vacuolization, staining pattern also shows mixing of stains progressively as the severity of thermal insult increases.