kjlm The Korean Journal of Laboratory Medicine Korean J Leg Med 2383-5702 2383-5710 The Korean Society for Legal Medicine 10.7580/kjlm.2014.38.1.19 kjlm-38-19 원 저 Animal Experiment for the Analysis of Postmortem Inhalation Degree by Drowning Medium Containing Methylene Blue HongJeong-Won 1 ChoiCheol Ho 2 KimYoun Shin 1 Department of Forensic Medicine, Chosun University School of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea Department of Forensic Medicine Investigation, Seoul Institute of Scientific Investigation, Seoul, Korea 책임저자 : 김윤신 (501-759) 광주광역시 동구 필문대로 309, 조선대학교 의학전문대학원 법의학 교실 전화 +82-62-230-6998 FAX : +82-62-234-4584 E-mail : ysk007@hotmail.com 12014 1712014 381 1925 27012014 05022014 19022014 Copyright © 2014 The Korean Society for Legal Medicine 2014 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract

Drowning is a leading cause of accidental deaths worldwide, but its pathological diagnosis remains a challenge for forensic pathologists owing to a lack of pathognomonic findings in drowning deaths and inconclusive autopsy findings caused by postmortem changes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the pathway taken by inhaled drowning medium through the airway after death in a variety of experimental conditions, including underwater pressurization. We used methylene blue dye to monitor the spread of drowning medium to the lungs. Results of theses experiments demonstrated that it is possible for a significant amount of downing medium to enter the airway during immersion after death. Our results suggest that autopsies of immersed bodies and interpretation of these findings should be performed with special care.

 Key Words Drowning Immersion Underwater pressurization Methylene blue Autopsy REFERENCES Layon AJ Modell JH Drowning: Update 2009 Anesthesiology 2009110 1390401 Na JY Park JP Choi MS The statistical analysis of legal autopsies in 2011 Korean J Leg Med 201236 16573 Ludes B Quantin S Coste M Application of a simple enzymatic digestion method for diatom detection in the diagnosis of drowning in putrified corpses by diatom analysis Int J Legal Med 1994107 3741 Fornes P Pe ′pin G Heudes D Diagnosis of drowning by combined computer-assisted histomorphometry of lungs with blood strontium determination J Forensic Sci 199843 7726 Piette MH De Letter EA Drowning: still a difficult autopsy diagnosis Forensic Sci Int 2006163 19 Lunetta P Modell JH Sajantila A What is the incidence and significance of “dry-lungs” in bodies found in water? Am J Forensic Med Pathol 200425 291301 Hong JW Lim SC Kim YS Comparison of pathologic findings by seawater or freshwater drowning on the experimental animals Korean J Leg Med 201337 11928 Figures and Tables

Compression tank was used to simulate the condition of underwater 10 m depth.

Gross appearance of the animal lungs shows very different grade of dye diffusion depending on the experimental conditions.

Ventral surface of animal lungs shows similar pattern and grade of dye diffusion compared to dorsal surface on the experimental conditions (after formalin fixation).

Longitudinal section of the left lungs shows more clear-cut comparison of dye diffusion on the experimental conditions (after formalin fixation).

The photograph of histology reveals alveolar edema, alveolar hemorrhage and vascular congestion in the rat’ s lung which is immersed and pressurized after death (H & E, a: × 200, b: × 400).

The Summarization of Experimental Result by Groups

  Group Weight Grade
No. Body Lung
1 Drowning group 291.0 1.4 1+
2   286.4 1.5 1+
3   284.3 1.5 1+
4   301.7 1.4 1+
5   293.2 1.5 1+
  Average 291.3 1.46  
6 PM∗ intratracheal instillation 293.5 3.0 4+
7 group 307.2 3.2 3+
8   297.3 3.3 2+
9   284.0 3.4 2+
10   288.5 3.8 2+
  Average 294.1 3.34  
11 PM submersion group for 287.2 3.8 1+
12 1hr 289.0 3.4 2+
13   294.4 3.7 2+
14   282.0 3.5 2+
15   290.5 3.7 2+
  Average 288.6 3.62  
16 PM submersion group for 304.3 2.6 1+
17 24hr 290.6 3.0 1+
18   291.5 2.4 2+
19   284.0 2.4 1+
20   290.6 3.2 1+
  Average 292.2 2.72  
21 Negative group 289.2 1.5 0
22   311.7 1.6 0
23   306.0 1.4 0
24   294.0 1.3 0
25   302.5 1.4 0
  Average 300.7 1.44  

PM: Postmortem