Re: If someone had heart surgery before death will emblaming still work?

Hello,

Surgical wounds, whether healed or not, would not interfere with the 
embalming process. This can perhaps be more easily appreciated if you can 
understand that once the heart has stopped and tissue perfusion has 
ceased, all body tissues would undergo necrosis, or cell death, 
regardless of whether it has previously been incised. The process of 
embalming is primarily to delay decomposition and to allow adequate time 
between death and burial to observe social customs such as visitations 
and funeral services, and to try prevent the spread of infection (if 
there is any). The embalming fluid will penetrate body tissues and 
partially "fix" the cells; this occurs at a cellular levels and is 
unaffected by tissues organisation.

I hope this helps:-)

Joshua Chai
Student Doctor
School of Clinical Medicine
University of Cambridge, UK