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Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium?
Hemopericardium is a common finding at autopsy, but it may represent a challenge for the forensic pathologist when the etiopathological relationship in causing death is requested. Hemopericardium and cardiac tamponade can be evaluated in living people using radiological techniques, in particular com...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Science Press
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4294154/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25593587 http://dx.doi.org/10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2014.04.013 |
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author | Gitto, Lorenzo Serinelli, Serenella Busardò, Francesco P. Panebianco, Valeria Bolino, Giorgio Maiese, Aniello |
author_facet | Gitto, Lorenzo Serinelli, Serenella Busardò, Francesco P. Panebianco, Valeria Bolino, Giorgio Maiese, Aniello |
author_sort | Gitto, Lorenzo |
collection | PubMed |
description | Hemopericardium is a common finding at autopsy, but it may represent a challenge for the forensic pathologist when the etiopathological relationship in causing death is requested. Hemopericardium and cardiac tamponade can be evaluated in living people using radiological techniques, in particular computer tomography (CT). Only a few studies are reported in literature involving post-mortem (PM) cases, where PMCT imaging has been used in order to investigate acute hemopericardium, and they have shown a good accuracy of this technique. Here we report a case involving a 70-year-old white male found dead on the beach, with a medical history of hepatitis C and chronic hypertension with a poor pharmacological response. A PMCT was performed about 3 h after the discovery of the body. The PMCT examination showed an intrapericardial aortic dissection associated to a periaortic hematoma, a sickle-shaped intramural hematoma, a false lumen, and a hemopericardium consisting in fluid and clotted blood. In this case, the PMCT was able to identify the cause of death, even though a traditional autopsy was required to confirm the radiological findings. PMCT is a reliable technique, which in chosen cases, can be performed without the need for a traditional autopsy to be carried out. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4294154 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Science Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42941542015-01-20 Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? Gitto, Lorenzo Serinelli, Serenella Busardò, Francesco P. Panebianco, Valeria Bolino, Giorgio Maiese, Aniello J Geriatr Cardiol Case Report Hemopericardium is a common finding at autopsy, but it may represent a challenge for the forensic pathologist when the etiopathological relationship in causing death is requested. Hemopericardium and cardiac tamponade can be evaluated in living people using radiological techniques, in particular computer tomography (CT). Only a few studies are reported in literature involving post-mortem (PM) cases, where PMCT imaging has been used in order to investigate acute hemopericardium, and they have shown a good accuracy of this technique. Here we report a case involving a 70-year-old white male found dead on the beach, with a medical history of hepatitis C and chronic hypertension with a poor pharmacological response. A PMCT was performed about 3 h after the discovery of the body. The PMCT examination showed an intrapericardial aortic dissection associated to a periaortic hematoma, a sickle-shaped intramural hematoma, a false lumen, and a hemopericardium consisting in fluid and clotted blood. In this case, the PMCT was able to identify the cause of death, even though a traditional autopsy was required to confirm the radiological findings. PMCT is a reliable technique, which in chosen cases, can be performed without the need for a traditional autopsy to be carried out. Science Press 2014-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4294154/ /pubmed/25593587 http://dx.doi.org/10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2014.04.013 Text en Institute of Geriatric Cardiology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which allows readers to alter, transform, or build upon the article and then distribute the resulting work under the same or similar license to this one. The work must be attributed back to the original author and commercial use is not permitted without specific permission. |
spellingShingle | Case Report Gitto, Lorenzo Serinelli, Serenella Busardò, Francesco P. Panebianco, Valeria Bolino, Giorgio Maiese, Aniello Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
title | Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
title_full | Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
title_fullStr | Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
title_full_unstemmed | Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
title_short | Can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
title_sort | can post-mortem computed tomography be considered an alternative for autopsy in deaths due to hemopericardium? |
topic | Case Report |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4294154/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25593587 http://dx.doi.org/10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2014.04.013 |
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