Legal medicine
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Gunshot injuries detected by post-mortem multislice computed tomography (MSCT): a feasibility study.
Modern cross-sectional imaging techniques are being increasingly implemented in forensic pathology. These methods may serve as an adjuvant to classic forensic autopsies or even replace them altogether in the future. ⋯ The cardinal questions of the location of entrance and exit wounds, the detection of bullets and bullet fragments in the body, the bullet course, inflicted injuries and cause of death were addressed at MSCT and autopsy. The results of the two techniques revealed that post-mortem MSCT can answer these questions reliably and is therefore a useful tool in the assessment of such injuries.
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An autopsy case of fatal hyperthermia in a state of excited delirium is reported. On a hot summer night a 39-year-old man was suspected of being a rapist, and police officers and several men attempted to arrest him. He vigorously resisted, but after a 20-min struggle he was ultimately forced into a prone position on the ground with his arms and legs restrained by police officers. ⋯ The liver showed diffuse coarse-droplet fatty infiltration of hepatocytes. Neither addictive drugs nor alcohol were detected from the blood or urine. The suspect was concluded to have died of fatal hyperthermia in a state of excited delirium.