Journal List > Korean J Leg Med > v.37(4) > 1004716

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Na, Kim, Koo, Chung, Choi, and Chung: Cheese-like Material in the Heart: An Autopsy Case Report of Severe Hypertriglyceridemia in Diabetic Ketoacidosis Patient
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Korean J Leg Med 2013;37(4):212-215.

Published online: 17 January 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2013.37.4.212

Cheese-like Material in the Heart: An Autopsy Case Report of Severe Hypertriglyceridemia in Diabetic Ketoacidosis Patient

Joo Young Na1, Eun Hee Kim2, Bon Young Koo1, Ik Jo Chung1, Byung Ha Choi1, Nak Eun Chung1

1Forensic Medicine Division, National Forensic Service, Seoul, Korea

2Health Screening and Promotion Center, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

2Health Screening and Promotion Center, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

책임저자 : 나주영 (158-707) 서울특별시 양천구 신월동 지 양로 139, 국립과학수사연구원 법의학과 전화 : +82-2-2600-4814 FAX : +82-2-2600-4828 E-mail : pdrdream@gmail.com

Received 30 September 2013       Revised 15 October 2013       Accepted 25 November 2013

Copyright © 2013 The Korean Society for Legal Medicine

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

Here we report an autopsy case of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) with severe hypertriglyceridemia (12,900 ㎎/㎗). A 29-year-old woman with a history of type 1 diabetes was found dead at a motel. There was no injury on external inspection, but a lump of cheese-like material was noted in the heart at autopsy and peripheral blood plasma had a creamy appearance. After postmortem biochemical analysis, we made a diagnosis of DKA with severe hypertriglyceridemia and concluded that these unusual autopsy findings were caused by DKA and postmortem change. Uncontrolled diabetes often causes DKA and hypertriglyceridemia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in Korea of DKA with severe hypertriglyceridemia diagnosed by autopsy.

Keywords: Key Words, Diabetic ketoacidosis, Severe hypertriglyceridemia, Creamy blood, Autopsy

REFERENCES

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Fig. 1.
A lump of cheese-like material was noted in the heart, when inferior vena cava was cut (fig. 1a) and when the heart was incised (fig. 1b).
kjlm-37-212f1.tif
Fig. 2.
A creamy plasma was noted in the post-centrifugal peripheral blood.
kjlm-37-212f2.tif
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