Frequency of Atherosclerotic Lesions in Coronary Arteries of Autopsy Specimens in Isfahan Forensic Medicine Center

Background: atherosclerosis of coronary arteries and myocardial infarction are the most common fatal cardiac diseases discoveredin autopsies. the fact that formation of these lesions are preventable through exact health care programs necessitatescollecting baseline information on the prevalence of such lesions as performed in this study.methods: in this descriptive, cross-sectional study, from october 2002 to november 2003, during a randomly chosen monthof every season, the hearts of autopsy specimens aging 15-50 years referred to isfahan forensic center (204 specimens) weredissected and fixed in formalin 10% and coronary arteries were sectioned. in case of a definite or suspicious lesion, microscopicslides were also prepared. otherwise, 3 random slides from each branch of coronary arteries were studied by a pathologist.then the percentage of vessel obstruction was detected and stages of lesions were classified as fibrotic and complicated.results: frequency of atherosclerotic lesions in 204 studied specimens (182 male and 22 female) was 29.4%. atheromatousplaques were observed in 31.3% of the male and 13.6% of the female specimens. the most frequent involved branches wereleft anterior descending, right coronary, left main and left circumflex arteries respectively. relative frequency of lesion increasedwith age.conclusion: the frequency of atherosclerotic lesions in this study is comparable to other studies. the difference in relativefrequency of atheromatous plaques in both sexes is expectable, probably due to low number of studied women or the lowprevalence of atherosclerotic lesions among young women.