수중시체의 사인규명을 위한 검시의학적 접근 : 동물실험을 통한 분석

Abstract

To investigate the cause of death and the dying process in forensic pathology, it is essentially important not only to find morphological evidence but also to analyze biochemical markers of systemic responses to trauma including central nervous, cardiac and pulmonary dysfunctions. Death by drowning is a major cause of unnatural death worldwide. Examination of the immersed bodies is a critical task in the forensic practice because there are no absolutely specific methods to establish the diagnosis of drowning. As an effort to overcome this obstacle, this study was a series of animal experiment to compare autopsy findings between seawater and fresh water drowning, including presence of pleural effusion and histologic findings of the lung. And this study was a series of study to investigate the pathologic findings by drowning medium through the airway before and after death in some experimental condition. For this purpose methylene blue dye was used to examine the spread of drowning medium to the lungs. The results was as follows; 1) the volume of pleural effusion was more in seawater drowning group than that of fresh water drowning and it was increased by postmortem interval, 2) the weight of lung was affected by type of drowning medium and postmortem interval, 3) histologic findings of lung showed no significant difference by type of drowning medium, and 4) the significant amount of drowning medium could enter into the airway while being immersed after death. It strongly suggests that these may affect the findings for the diagnosis of drowning.