Intrinsic Contrast from Blood Clots in Postmortem Vascular MRI

This study demonstrates the use of postmortem coagulated blood as an intrinsic contrast agent on T2*-weighted images for visualizing small vasculatures, establishing a method for detailed vascular mapping in postmortem specimens alongside histopathological analysis. This approach can help to enhance our understanding of in vivo vascular imaging findings of vascular contributions to AD and AD-related dementia and their underlying pathological substrates. Figure 1. Comparison of high-resolution T2*-weighted data between postmortem and in vivo MRI. Figure 2. Multi-contrast MRI of post-mortem hippocampus compared with histopathology and in vivo vascular MRI. Figure 3. Blood clot formation (arrows) in postmortem brain tissue on T2*-weighted imaging and histological staining.