TY - JOUR
T1 - Pulmonary fat embolization as a diagnostic finding for heat exposure
AU - Inoue, Hiromasa
AU - Ikeda, Noriaki
AU - Tsuji, Akiko
AU - Kudo, Keiko
AU - Hanagama, Masakazu
AU - Nata, Masayuki
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (Grant No. 18790421). Special thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Ichiro Nakasono and Dr. Kazuya Ikematsu (Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Nagasaki University), and Prof. Dr. Shigeru Hishida and Prof. Dr. Hiroshi Kinoshita (Hyogo College of Medicine) for providing us with precious samples. We also thank Ms. Tomomi Yamada (Department of Translational Medical Science, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine) for providing expert statistical advice and Dr. Myles O’Brien (Mie Prefectural College of Nursing, Tsu, Mie, Japan) for assistance with the English language.
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - The aim of this study was to examine whether the detection of pulmonary fat embolization is valid as a significant indicator of heat exposure in forensic autopsies. In 54 cases where there was no evidence of fracture, burn or pancreatitis, 25 cases (46.3%) showed pulmonary fat embolization, the degree of which was pathohistologically classified as slight in all cases. Among the 25 cases where the pulmonary fat embolization was detected, the individual had died under a high ambient temperature in 14 cases (56%). Based on logistic regression analysis, pulmonary fat embolization was found to be associated with a high ambient temperature, but not associated with coronary arteriosclerosis, fatty infiltration in the liver, severe infectious diseases, intracranial hemorrhage or the detection of methamphetamine in the blood. Further investigations are necessary before these findings can be applied in forensic autopsy cases; however, it is likely that the detection of pulmonary fat embolization is valuable as one of the diagnostic findings indicating antemortem heat exposure.
AB - The aim of this study was to examine whether the detection of pulmonary fat embolization is valid as a significant indicator of heat exposure in forensic autopsies. In 54 cases where there was no evidence of fracture, burn or pancreatitis, 25 cases (46.3%) showed pulmonary fat embolization, the degree of which was pathohistologically classified as slight in all cases. Among the 25 cases where the pulmonary fat embolization was detected, the individual had died under a high ambient temperature in 14 cases (56%). Based on logistic regression analysis, pulmonary fat embolization was found to be associated with a high ambient temperature, but not associated with coronary arteriosclerosis, fatty infiltration in the liver, severe infectious diseases, intracranial hemorrhage or the detection of methamphetamine in the blood. Further investigations are necessary before these findings can be applied in forensic autopsy cases; however, it is likely that the detection of pulmonary fat embolization is valuable as one of the diagnostic findings indicating antemortem heat exposure.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.legalmed.2008.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.legalmed.2008.05.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 18657464
AN - SCOPUS:57349108843
SN - 1344-6223
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 3
JO - Legal Medicine
JF - Legal Medicine
IS - 1
ER -
