Sudebno-meditsinskaia ekspertiza
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Previous studies have shown that signs of drowning in fresh water are of low diagnostic value. Regardless of the mechanism of drowning death, a certain amount of water enters the blood and somehow changes its composition. The objective of this study was to determine water fractions in the blood of drowned subjects. ⋯ The rise was in the first place attributable to the selective increase of the free water fraction. Changes of water content in the blood were virtually identical in the drowned subjects who died from asphyxia and from aspiration of water. The data obtained in this study may be used as additional diagnostic signs of drowning death.