The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Jun 2010
ReviewExcited delirium, restraints, and unexpected death: a review of pathogenesis.
Unexpected deaths periodically occur in individuals held in police custody. These decedents usually have had significant physical exertion associated with violent and/or bizarre behavior, have been restrained by the police, and often have drug intoxication. Autopsy material from these cases may not provide a satisfactory explanation for the cause of death, and these deaths are then attributed to the excited delirium syndrome. ⋯ People who die under unusual circumstances associated with high catecholamine levels have contraction bands in their myocardium. Consequently, the pathogenesis of the excited delirium syndrome could be evaluated by using echocardiograms in patients brought to the emergency centers, and by more careful assessment of the myocardium and coronary vessels at autopsy. Treatment should focus on prevention through the reduction of stress.
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Occasionally, individuals accused of inflicting fatal injuries on infants and young children will claim some variant of the "CPR defense," that is, they attribute the cause of injuries found at autopsy to their "untrained" resuscitative efforts. A 10-year (1994-2003) historical fixed cohort study of all pediatric forensic autopsies at the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department was undertaken. To be eligible for inclusion in the study, children had to have died of atraumatic causes, with or without resuscitative efforts (N(atraumatic) = 546). ⋯ This study indicates that in the pediatric population, injuries secondary to resuscitative efforts are infrequent or rare, pathophysiologically inconsequential, and predominantly orofacial in location. In our population, CPR did not result in any rib fractures or significant visceral injuries. Participation of nonmedical or untrained individuals in resuscitation did not increase the likelihood of injury.
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Jun 2010
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, suicides and parasuicides in professional American athletes: the role of the forensic pathologist.
We present 5 cases of professional American contact sport athletes who committed parasuicides and suicides aged 50, 45, 44, 36, and 40 years old. Full forensic autopsies and immunohistochemical analyses of the brains revealed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The brains appeared grossly normal at autopsy without gross evidence of remote traumatic injuries or neurodegenerative disease. ⋯ CTE can only be definitively diagnosed by direct tissue examination. Without full autopsies and immunohistochemical brain analyses these cases would never have been identified. Forensic pathologists will play a vital and central role in the emerging disease surveillance of CTE in professional American athletes, in the identification of CTE cases, and in the establishment of the epidemiology of CTE, with the goal of eventually developing preventive and interventional therapeutic protocols for CTE outcomes.
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Mar 2010
Review"C3, 4, 5 Keeps the Diaphragm Alive." Is phrenic nerve palsy part of the pathophysiological mechanism in strangulation and hanging? Should diaphragm paralysis be excluded in survived cases?: A review of the literature.
The phrenic nerve arises in the neck. It is formed from C3, C4, and C5 nerve fibers and descends along the anterior surface of the scalenus anterior muscle before entering the thorax to supply motor and sensory input to the diaphragm. Its anatomic location in the neck leaves the nerve vulnerable to traumatic injury. ⋯ Cases of diaphragm paralysis occurring as a consequence of neck trauma are documented in the literature. In some cases, the forces involved are relatively minor and include whiplash injury, occurring in minor motor vehicle collisions, chiropractic manipulation, and compression of neck structures, including a case involving external neck compression by industrial machinery. It is concluded that phrenic nerve palsy might be part of the pathophysiological mechanism in strangulation and hanging, and clinical investigation to exclude diaphragm paralysis in survived cases should be considered.
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Fentanyl is a potent Schedule II narcotic analgesic recommended for use in the management of unremitting pain not controlled by morphine or other opiate/opioid drugs. The danger inherent to fentanyl is its potency (greater than 50-100 times that of morphine) and rapidity of action, causing respiratory depression within minutes of administration. Advisories have been issued on a state and national level to health care providers and through manufacturers' package inserts for patients. ⋯ This number was a marked increase from the 1 to 2 cases occurring annually from 2002 to 2005. All of these 2006 overdoses because of fentanyl involved the transdermal formulation. The investigative data, blood and liver fentanyl levels, and autopsy findings will be presented.