Recognition of early myocardial infarction by immunohistochemical staining with cardiac troponin-I and complement C9.

The diagnosis of early myocardial infarction (MI) after death, especially in the first few hours (c. 6 h) after the onset of MI, poses a challenge to the forensic pathologists. During this time, the damaged myocardium does not show grossly identifiable morphological changes and may not be recognized even with routine histological microscopic examination.