Post-mortem stability and redistribution of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT).

Post-mortem diagnosis of chronic alcohol abuse is a challenge for forensic experts due to the lack of pathognomonic morphological findings and often also inadequate background information. Objective methods demonstrating chronic excessive alcohol consumption would therefore be a useful tool for forensic pathologists. In clinical practice, several markers of chronic alcohol abuse have recently been introduced, among which carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is the most accepted, but the use of these markers in autopsy has not yet been established.

Pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland 1987-1994--definition problems and benefits of record linkage.

Background: Our aim was to study the impact of record linkage and different classification principles on maternal mortality rate.

Methods: The death certificates of all fertile-aged women who died in 1987-94 in Finland (n = 9,192) were linked to the Birth, Abortion, and Hospital Discharge Registers (n = 513,472 births, 93,807 induced abortions, and 71,701 other ended pregnancies) to identify the women who had been pregnant during their last year of life. All deaths that occurred up to 1 year after the end of pregnancy were classified according to their connection to pregnancy.

Estimation of the breaking of rigor mortis by myotonometry.

Myotonometry was used to detect breaking of rigor mortis. The myotonometer is a new instrument which measures the decaying oscillations of a muscle after a brief mechanical impact. The method gives two numerical parameters for rigor mortis, namely the period and decrement of the oscillations, both of which depend on the time period elapsed after death.

Profuse mediastinal haemorrhage due to mediastinitis after sternotomy. Report of three cases and review of the literature.

Profuse spontaneous haemorrhage occurred in association with mediastinitis after median sternotomy for coronary bypass surgery in three men aged 54, 47 and 59 years. The bleeding sites were aorta, right ventricle and saphenous bypass graft. The aortic rupture occurred during closed lavage, the right ventricle ruptured during open saline mediastinal packing and the saphenous vein graft was eroded by a mediastinal drainage tube after discontinuation of closed lavage.

Fatal liver necrosis following percutaneous ethanol injection for hepatocellular carcinoma.

A 76-year-old man underwent an injection of 5 ml of ethanol for the treatment of a hepatocellular carcinoma 3 cm in diameter. Shortly after the procedure, he had an attack of abdominal pain. His condition soon deteriorated and he died 5 days later.

Grading rigor mortis with myotonometry--a new possibility to estimate time of death.

Myotonometry has been applied to grade rigor mortis. The myotonometer is a hand-held instrument which gives a mechanical impact against the muscle. The muscle responds with a damped vibration which is registered and treated mathematically.

Occurrence of beta-hexachlorocyclohexane in breast cancer patients.

The residues of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and neutral organochlorine compounds in breast fat of 44 breast cancer patients and 33 women free of cancer were determined. No statistically significant differences appeared between the two comparison groups with regard to occurrence of PAH compounds. Of the neutral organochlorine compounds, residues of beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) were found more frequently in breast cancer patients.

Vertebral artery rupture in traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage detected by postmortem angiography.

A fatal subarachnoid haemorrhage from a ruptured normal intracranial vertebral artery in a 49-year-old male, following a blow to the head, was revealed by a postmortem angiographic technique using radiopaque silicone rubber as a contrast medium vulcanizing at room temperature. No fracture of the atlas or connection between intracranial vessels and extracranial soft tissue haematoma could be visualized. We advocate the use of postmortem angiography in the diagnosis of suspected head trauma sustained in fights.