Cardiac injuries caused by blunt trauma: an autopsy based assessment of the injury pattern.

Nonpenetrating chest trauma with injury to the heart and aorta has become increasingly common, particularly as a result of rapid deceleration in high-speed vehicular accidents, over the past 2-3 decades. The high mortality rate of cardiac injuries and possible late onset complications make blunt cardiac injuries an important challenging point for legal medicine. One hundred and ninety cases with blunt cardiac injuries in a period of 3 years were analyzed retrospectively in terms of patterns of cardiac injury, survival times, and demographic profiles of the cases in this study.

[Assessment of smoking related pathologic changes and MMP-9, TIMP-1 expressions of the lung].

The impact of smoking on the peripheral airways, the determining field of respiratory functions in the lungs, is well known. Fifty two cases were included in the study; autopsy cases of non-cardiopulmonary related deaths with a smoking history, and cases with lung resection, known as smokers. Ten cases without a smoking history and a systemic disease were used as a control group at the histopathological examination.

Sudden death due to eosinophilic endomyocardial diseases: three case reports.

Eosinophils are associated with various disorders, such as allergic or hypersensitivity reactions, parasitic diseases, connective tissue diseases, certain neoplastic diseases (Hodgkin's disease, lymphomas, and carcinomas), and various immune deficiency states. Eosinophils can infiltrate any tissue and can cause tissue damage. Heart, has been demonstrated to be the most extensively involved and toxicity of eosinophils is well-established on cardiac tissue.

Sudden death in infancy due to bicuspid aortic valve.

Symptoms of bicuspid aortic valve usually occur in the age group of 50-70 years, but rarely, it can also lead to sudden unexpected death in infancy and early childhood. The autopsy of a 2-month-old baby boy, found dead in his cot, revealed the heart weight as 25 g, and the macroscopic examination showed the circumference of the aortic valve consisting of two leaflets as 8 mm. The thickness of the left ventricle, right ventricle, and septum was measured as 8, 7, and 10 mm, respectively.

[Pulmonary and systemic fat embolism as a cause of death in forensic autopsy practice].

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible correlations between the grade of fat embolism and age, gender, severity of trauma and post-traumatic survival time.

Methods: Thirty-one cases with pulmonary and/or systemic fat embolism, auotopsied at the Morgue Department of Council of Forensic Medicine were evaluated retrospectively.

Results: Twenty-eight cases (90%) died due to trauma and its complications.

Sudden death due to an unrecognized cardiac hydatid cyst: three medicolegal autopsy cases.

Echinococcosis is a human infection caused by the larval stage of Echinococcocus granulosus. The most common sites of infection are the liver and the lungs. Cardiac hydatid cysts are very rare, even in regions where hydatic cysts are endemic (the Mediterranean, South America, Africa, and Australia).

Subvalvular aortic stenosis as a cause of sudden death: two case reports.

Sudden death is defined as a death that occurs suddenly, develops during an unpredictable course, and is due to natural or unnatural causes. Although there is no universally standardized definition on how "sudden" a sudden death is, WHO defines sudden death as a death that occurs within 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. The aim of this study is to present 2 rarely reported autopsy cases and to emphasize the importance of systemic autopsy at sudden death.

Maternal death due to non-traumatic fat embolism.

The aim of this report is to document a case of non-traumatic fat embolism (NTFE) and to address the need for considerition of fat embolism in suspicious deaths resulting from respiratory distress in the postpartum period. A 28-years-old woman autopsied at the Morgue Department of the Council of Forensic Medicine is included to the study. This female became unconscious and developed respiratory distress 4 h after delivery, and this was followed by respiratory arrest.

Non-ruptured hydatid cyst can lead to death by spread of cyst content into bloodstream: an autopsy case.

Hydatid disease is a parasitic infestation caused by a tapeworm of the genus Echinococcus, and it is common in Mediterranean regions. Cystic lesions cause symptoms via compressing adjacent organs or may be totally silent. Morbidity is usually secondary to free rupture of the echinococcal cyst with or without anaphylaxis, infection of the cyst or dysfunction of affected organs.