1. Embalming is the process of preserving human remains through chemicals to delay decomposition and restore an acceptable appearance. It allows for viewing of the deceased and time to arrange funerals. 2. The main goals of embalming are sanitization, presentation, and preservation of the body. Key chemicals used are formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, and ethanol. 3. Embalming has a long history across many cultures and was important for displaying remains, religious reasons, and scientific study. Modern embalming involves injecting preservatives into arteries to saturate tissues.

1. CADAVERIC
EMBALMING
SPEAKER:
DR GOUSIA NISA
MODERATOR:
DR BASHIR A.
SHAH
ASSOCIATE
PROFESSOR

2. EMBALMING
Embalming is the art and science of preserving human
remains by treating them with chemicals to
forestall decomposition.
 suitable for public display at a funeral, for religious reasons, or for
medical and scientific purposes (anatomical specimens).
 replacement of blood with preservative chemicals, similar to
transfusion.

3. DEFINITION
The American Board Of Funeral Service Education
defines embalming as “ the chemical treatment of
the dead human body to reduce the presence &
growth of micro-organisms, to temporarily inhibit
organic decomposition & to restore the dead
human body to an acceptable physical appearance.

4. GOALS
Embalming preserves the human body intact and is one of the
mankind's longest practised art
sanitization, presentation and
preservation (or restoration ).

5. HISTORY
Long and cross-cultural history, with many cultures giving the
embalming a greater religious meaning.
• Chinchorro culture in the Atacama desert(Chile and Peru)
are among the earliest cultures known to have performed
artificial mummification as early as 5000-6000 BC.
• Egypt, where, as early as the 3200 BC specialized priests .
•Ethiopeans,
Guanches, Peruvians, Jivaro Indians, Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayans,
and Tibetan and southern Nigerian tribes also practised
embalming.
•In Europe the knowledge and practice of artificial
preservation had spread widely by 500 AD. The period of
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is known as
the Anatomists period of embalming .

6. ADVANTAGES
The process of embalming makes the following possible:
Temporary preservation & sanitization
 Body inoffensive by slowing postmortem changes
Preservation for anatomical study & research by medical institutions
Restore a favorable body image by removing the adverse effects of
disease, trauma or postmortem changes
Move the deceased to a distant location for final disposition
Seeing the body allows the friends & family to accept the reality of
death
Allows time to organise ceremony & rituals
Slow the breakdown of the body over time (desiccation rather than
putrefaction)

7. TYPES OF PRESERVATION
• Natural- obtained without deliberate human intervention like freezing,
dry cold, dry heat, nature of soil at the place of interment.
• Artificial- secured by deliberate action of humans. Eg. Simple heat,
powders, evisceration & immersion, evisceration & drying, evisceration,
local incision & immersion, simple immersion in alcohol or brine,
arterial injection & evisceration, cavity injection & immersion, arterial
injection, artificial cold, arterial injection & cavity treatment ( used by
present-day embalmers, taught in schools & colleges of embalming
today).

8. EMBALMING CHEMICALS
Embalming chemicals are a variety of preservatives, sanitizers, disinfectant
agents and additives used in modern embalming to temporarily
delay decomposition and restore a natural appearance for viewing a body after
death. A mixture of these chemicals is known as embalming fluid, and is used
to preserve deceased individuals( funeral/ indefinitely).
Typical embalming fluid contains a mixture
of formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, ethanol, humectants and wetting agents.
The formaldehyde content generally ranges from 5 to 35 percent, and the
ethanol content may range from 9 to 56 percent.

10. MECHANISM OF ACTION
 The embalming chemicals & proteins combine to form a latticework of
inert, firm material (cannot be easily brokendown by bacterial or
autolytic enzymes).
 Body proteins have many reactive centers & a great affinity to hold
water. Embalming destroys these reactive centers & the new protein –
like substance no longer has the ability to retain water i.e. are more
stable & long-lasting.
 The germicides & preservatives inactivate body enzymes & destroys
both pathogenic & non-pathogenic bacteria( sanitized).

11. Embalming Treatment Classifications
Arterial
Cavity
Surface and Hypodermic

12. Arterial Embalming
 Can be used to prepare general or localized body region
 A limb or an entire body can be arterially embalmed.
 Is used with both autopsied and un-autopsied remains.
 Consists of injecting 3 to 4 gallons of preservative solution under pressure,
into the circulatory through an artery while concurrently draining blood from a
vein.
 Arterial fluid flows through the body’s circulatory system but not through
the heart.
 Arterial embalming is also referred to as capillary embalming. 85% of the body’s
blood is contained in the capillaries. The embalming fluid must go through the
capillaries to enter the tissue spaces where it makes contact with the cells of the
tissue and body protein thus embalming the body.

13. Cavity Embalming
 Cavity embalming is performed after arterial embalming.
 It is the direct treatment of the body cavities.
 Those cavities include abdominal, thoracic, and pelvic.
 The process is carried out by aspirating the cavity and then filling it with
concentrated chemicals.
 The trocar is the instrument used in the cavity embalming process.
 The purpose of cavity embalming is to reach the hollow organs that are not
penetrated by the arterial embalming solution. It is important that the organ’s gases
and solids be released through the cavity embalming process.
 Approximately 1 to 2 16oz. Bottles of cavity fluid is used to penetrate the organs
and preserve them.
 Cavity Embalming may be performed more than once on a body in the case of
purge or odor.

14. Hypodermic Embalming
 Hypodermic embalming is the subcuticular injection of suitable
preservative chemical directly into the tissues.
 It is accomplished by use of a syringe and needle, or an infant or
standard trocar.
 The treatment area can include finger tips, the cavity walls of an
autopsied body, or a limb that won’t accept arterial embalming.

15. Surface Embalming
Surface embalming is the application of an embalming
chemical directly to the surface of the tissues.
The chemicals are applied with an aerosol spray, or painted
on with a brush using a liquid or gel, and can even be applied
using cotton as a surface compress.
Areas that are surfaced embalmed can be under the eyelids,
the cavity walls in autopsied bodies, and underneath the
cranial scalp when a cranial autopsy has been performed.

16. Anatomical embalming
 For anatomy education a different process is used.
 the first priority is for long-term preservation. Medical
embalmers use embalming fluids that contain concentrated
formaldehyde(37-40% known as Formalin) or glutaraldehyde or
phenol & are made without dyes or perfumes.
 One must give respect to cadaver/dead body. Maintain the
dignity of cadaver. Cover the cadaver to prevent drying effect
because once the part is dried it can’t be restored.

17. Safety and Instruments
Safety measures:
 Apron- To protect the clothing.
 Shoes/boot – Use shoes/boot because it gives safety to foot from
dropped scalpels or sharp instruments.
 Gloves – Use gloves to avoid the contact from preservatives and other
chemicals.
Instruments:
 Along with dissection box we need gloves, cap mask, goggles, saving
kit, embalming apparatus with Murphy’s chamber & controlling device
and vessel’s cannula/catheter , knife handle with blade ,artery forceps,
forceps-plain , toothed, hook retractor with eye, thread,needle(cutting)-
straight , curved, gauze piece.

18. Technique
 Performed into a closed circulatory system.
 The fluid is injected with an embalming machine into an artery under
high pressure & flow, & allowed to swell & saturate the tissues, & the
body is left to sit for a number of hours. The venous system is
generally opened & the fluid is allowed to drain out
 Some choose to use gravity feed embalming where the container
dispensing the embalming fluid is elevated above the body level & the
fluid is slowly introduced over an extended time.
 There is no separate cavity treatment of the internal organs. The
embalmed cadavers have a uniform grey colouration (formaldehyde /
embalmer’s grey ).

19. Cont….
 A standardized formula for embalming is used at the University of the Orange Free
State( UOFS ). This formula has proven to be successful, as no fungal growth has
appeared on cadavers. The composition is as follows:
 96%Ethanol- 12L
 Formalin- 500ml
 Glycerine-750ml
 Water-500ml
 80% Liquid phenol-3.5L
The addition of plastination of biological material to the list of preservation
techniques, has necessitated the development of revised fixation techniques. This formula is
injected into the radial artery under pressure of 1 -1.5 kilopascal, until the cadaver is filled
(± 25L for a 60 kg cadaver). The blood flows into the veins and the arteries are therefore
empty, allowing the subsequent red Latex-injection. The injection of Latex should be done
after a minimum of 5 weeks following embalming. A red colorant, Rubine Toner, at a ratio
of 6-1 is used.

20. Specialist embalming
 Badly decomposing bodies, trauma cases, frozen, or drowned
bodies, and those to be transported over long distances also
require special treatment beyond that for the "normal" case.
 The restoration of bodies and features damaged by accident or
disease is commonly called restorative art or demi-surgery, and all
qualified embalmers have some degree of training and practice in
it. For such cases, the benefit of embalming is startlingly
apparent.

21. Autopsied Embalming
 Embalming autopsy cases differs from standard embalming
because the nature of the post-mortem examination irrevocably
disrupts the circulatory system, due to the removal of the organs
and viscera.
 In these cases, a six-point injection is made through the two iliac
or femoral arteries, subclavian or Axillary vessels, and Common
carotids, with the viscera treated separately with cavity fluid or a
special embalming powder in a viscera bag, "shake and bake".
In many morgues in the United States and New Zealand, these
necessary vessels are carefully preserved during the autopsy; in countries where
embalming is less common, such as Australia and Japan, they are routinely
excised.

22. RELIGIOUS ASPECTS
 Most branches of the Christian faith generally allow embalming. Some bodies
within Eastern Orthodoxy profess an absolute ban against embalming except
when required by law. The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints does
not discourage or prohibit embalming.
 Members of Iglesia ni Cristo allows embalming for the view of their loved
ones. It forbids autopsy and cremation because they believe the body of the
deceased is sacred and should be cared for with respect.
 Some Neopagans generally discourage embalming, believing it unnatural to
disrupt the physical recycling of the body to the Earth in the mistaken belief
that embalmed bodies do not decompose. They encourage the use of green
graveyards.
 Zoroastrians traditionally hold a type of sky burial within a structure known as
a Tower of Silence in which the body is exposed to weathering and predation
to dispose of the remains, and thus embalming the body is contrary to their
funeral designs.

23. CONT……..
Embalming is not practiced by Muslims. The body is covered in a
plain white burial shroud, called "kafan". They do not use coffins.
Instead, the body is buried in a grave.

24. Occupational Risks
Bloodborne & airborne pathogens
Clostridium difficile – mutated toxin is 20 times more potent
MRSA, Actinobacter haumanii, VRE, VRSA, VISA,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa & CJD
HIV, Hep.B & C
TB-MDR
Female embalmer during pregnancy- TORCH, Human
Parvovirus B19, Syphilis
Exposure to chemical hazards- formalin
Maintain good personal hygiene, wear proper PPE & work in an
environment at safe OSHA formaldehyde levels

25. Notable embalming
Lord Nelson, Abraham Lincoln, Joseph Stalin, the most famous
embalmed body of the 20th century is that of Vladimir
Lenin, which continues to draw crowds decades after his death in
1924, and is seen in his Moscow mausoleum.