title: Technical note: Improvement of cadaveric skin samples (with severe morphological alteration connected to putrefaction or injury) by an extended histological processing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The microscopic study and the interpretation of skin samples with advanced post-mortal phenomena or with particular destructive injuries is problematic for the forensic pathologist. In an attempt of restoring the histological architecture of cadaveric skin and overcoming these types of problem, the Authors performed a histological processing that was longer than the standard: it was extended until 62 days to evaluate the improvement of the microscopic morphological aspect.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cutaneous samples were taken from 25 cadavers (5 typologies of skin: charred, putrified, corifed, mummified and partially skeletonized), fixed with a 10%-buffered formalin and then processed in two different ways: one half of the samples was routinely addressed to the standard-time automatic technique, while the other half was manually processed with prolonged times. All the slides were then stained in Hematoxylin-Eosin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The standard-processed slides demonstrated marked morphological alterations and artefacts at the microscopic observation; conversely, those processed with the prolonged manual technique showed an improvement in the morphological structure, sometimes permitting the identification of the anatomical components.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though it is characterized by the inconvenience of protracted times, the application of a long-term manual histological processing to cadaveric skin samples with advanced post-mortal alteration permits to better observe the anatomical architecture of skin and it could be useful and helpful in the evaluation of such cases.
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute-Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boracchi
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute-Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andreola
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute-Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute-Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maghin
authors.affiliation: Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marchesi
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute-Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muccino
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute-Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy. Electronic address: riccardo.zoia@unimi.it.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zoja
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002056:Burns / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008853:Microscopy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009106:Mummies / Q000473:pathology; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012867:Skin / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Artefacts; Forensic pathology; Histological processing; Putrefaction