Lines of Zahn

Lines of Zahn
A recent pulmonary thrombo-embolus with prominent lines of Zahn. The pale areas consist of fibrin and platelets. The red areas consist of erythrocytes.
Specialty	Pathology
Causes	Thrombosis

Lines of Zahn are a characteristic of thrombi. They have layers, with lighter layers of platelets and fibrin, and darker layers of red blood cells. They are more present on thrombi formed with faster blood flow, more so on thrombi from the heart and aorta. They are only seen on thrombi formed before death. They are named after German–Swiss pathologist Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn.