Search results for "Forensic Pathology"

Cervical necrotizing fasciitis and descending necrotizing mediastinitis in a patient affected by neglected peritonsillar abscess: a case of medical n…

2007

Abstract We report a case of fatal cervical necrotizing fasciitis (CNF) and descending necrotizing mediastinitis (DNM) due to primary peritonsillar abscess in 60-year-old male patient with no history or evidence of immunocompromising disorders. The patient was treated with antibiotic and corticosteroid drugs but he developed mediastinitis and septic shock and died of multiple organ failure six days later from recovery in hospital. After a clinical, diagnostic and therapeutical consideration of the cervical necrotizing fasciitis and some related risks of a delayed diagnosis and treatment, the authors analysed the clinical history of the patient and of the medical conduct pointing out profess…

Forensic tools for the diagnosis of electrocution death: Case study and literature review

2018

Diagnosis of death by electrocution may be difficult when electric marking is not visible or unclear. Accordingly, the body of a man who appeared to have died from accidental electrocution was carefully forensically analysed. Macroscopic and microscopic analysis of the current mark was carried out using a variable-pressure scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive X-ray microanalyser to highlight skin metallisation, indicating the presence of iron and zinc. The histological findings of electrocution myocardial damage were supported by the results of biochemical analysis which demonstrated the creatine kinase-MB and cardiac troponin I elevation. The effects of electric cu…

Virtopsy and Living Individuals Evaluation Using Computed Tomography in Forensic Diagnostic Imaging

2019

The applications of forensic radiology involve both Virtopsy both studies on living people - to demonstrate bone age, search for foreign bodies, such as voluntary injection of drug ovules or surgical sponges accidentally forgotten, to assess gunshot wounds, to evaluate injuries by road accidents, and cases of violence or abuse (both in adults and in children). Computed tomography is the most used imaging tool used in forensic pathology and its indications are mainly focused on cases of unnatural deaths or when a crime is suspected. It is preferred over the standard autopsy in selected cases, such as in putrefied, carbonized or badly damaged bodies; or as a preliminary evaluation in mass dis…

Sudden death in adolescence caused by cardiac haemangioma

2009

Primary tumors of the heart in infants and children are rare. The types of heart tumors in pediatric age groups are generally different from those in adults. Cardiac myxoma is by far the most common tumor in adults, but in infants and adolescents the prevalent tumor of the heart is rhabdomyoma. Among benign cardiac tumors, cardiac hemangiomas are rare and often diagnosed post-mortem due to the lack of specific clinical symptoms and signs. We report a case of sudden death due to cardiac hemangioma in an apparently healthy 15-year-old adolescent. The autopsy revealed a cardiac hemangioma located at the apex of the heart; the histopathological examination showed the tumor was a mixed capillary…

An unusual case of seat belt syndrome

2011

Seat belt syndrome refers to a constellation of injuries associated with sudden increase in intra-abdominal pressure in vehicle occupants wearing seat-belts; this work aimes to stress a particular pattern of perineal lesions in a rear passenger wearing seat belt.

Cardiac rupture caused by traffic accident: Case reports and a literature review.

2018

The commonest cause of blunt cardiac injuries is from traffic accidents followed by violent falls, sport activities, accidents or a fight but rupture of the heart is rare and lethal. The precise incidence of cardiac injury after a blunt chest trauma is unknown as rates vary greatly in the literature from between 7% and 76% of cases. Autopsy studies have shown that the right ventricle is the most frequently ruptured, followed by the left ventricle, right atrium, intraventricular septum, left atrium and interatrial septum with decreasing frequency. Post-mortem imaging is a rapidly advancing field of post-mortem investigations of trauma victims. The available literature dealing with the compa…

Analysis on sarcoglycans expression as markers of septic cardiomyopathy in sepsis-related death

2018

The post-mortem assessment of sepsis-related death can be carry out by many methods recently suggested as microbiological and biochemical investigations. In these cases, the cause of death is a multiple organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated inflammatory response occurring after the failure of infection control process. It was highlighted also that the heart can be a target organ in sepsis which determines the so-called septic cardiomyopathy characterized by myocardial depression. Several mechanisms to explain the pathophysiology of septic cardiomyopathy were suggested, but very few studies about the structural alterations of cardiac cells responsible for myocardial depression were carried…

Homicide with post mortem dismemberment of the victim

2007

Lethal rupture of post-traumatic aneurysm of the vertebral artery case report.

2009

Abstract Traumatic aneurysms or dissections of the vertebral artery have been reported in patients who have suffered minor craniofacial injuries in traffic accidents. A case is reported of ruptured traumatic vertebral artery aneurysm due to closed head injury without without penetrating injuries or skull fractures. The macroscopic and histological findings relevant to the vertebral wall were compatible with post-traumatic aneurysm; the rupture of the wall was assumed to be caused by sepsis and local infiltration of inflammatory cells.

Rare occurrence of Whipple Disease in a young female patient with a fatal outcome

2013

Abstract Whipple Disease is a rare chronic multi-systemic disease caused by the ubiquitous environmental Gram-positive bacterium Tropheryma whipplei . It can be fatal if untreated. Here we describe the fatal outcome in a 27-year-old Caucasian female patient with a three-month history of persistent fever, anemia, weight loss and diarrhea. The final resolution of the diagnostic process was only reached after the patient’s death thanks to autopsy. The case depicted is a classic Whipple Disease histologically characterized by digestive involvement based on positive periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining and immunohistochemical analysis for T. whipplei and systemic involvement (pericarditis, brain …