Foreign bodies of unknown origin found in a serosal hematoma between the stomach and the pancreas of a patient

An autopsy of a 55-year-old man who had died suddenly revealed extensive intra-abdominal bleeding and a serosal hematoma between the stomach and the pancreas, in which numerous foreign bodies were found. They were located just adjacent to pancreatic tissue which had undergone changes of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. It was assumed that they had been shaped by a pathological mechanism contributing much to the sudden death of the patient. The nature of the foreign bodies was investigated by comparing their microscopic sections with those of various living organisms and by testing their chemical character with some histochemical methods. However, they had no similarities to known foreign bodies of animal or plant origin found in pathological sections of human tissues and no conclusive evidence on their chemical nature could be obtained either. Our unified opinion is that the foreign bodies might have been formed in human tissues in situ as a result of the pathological tissue changes. The morphological features of the bodies are described in detail and their significance is discussed.