Pathological contraction band necrosis (CBN) is a type of necrosis pattern found in the myocardium. Generally, it is well known that CBN is induced by cardiopulmonary resuscitation. But we experienced that CB have diverse forms and can be observed in various causes of death. We have identified different forms of CB by examining the expression and distribution of Complement component C9 (CCC9) by immunohistochemistry in the myocardium of cases who died due to different causes of death. We used cardiac tissues with CB from 20 forensic autopsy cases in our department. We excluded the cases with high temperature because appearance of staining was significantly different from others. We found that CB with myocardial infarction were stained with CCC9 and they were true CBN. We previously suggested that CB could be induced by cardiac massage itself within 12 hours after death. The CB induced by cardiac massage or hypothermia were not stained with CCC9. They are not CBN but rather artifactual CB that is called in pathological fields, but the word is not so suitable that we call them Morita bands. We suggest that CB should be classified with CCC9 to CBN or Morita bands in order to presume agonal situation.
