Estimation of postmortem death interval from autopsied tongue tissue: A cross-sectional study

CONTEXT: Estimation of time since death is the preliminary step in any postmortem examination. Although there are various physiological methods to conclude the postmortem, interval histological changes can be applied to obtain precision. However, the utility of oral tissues for such an event is still evolving. AIMS: The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy of postmortem histological changes that occur in tongue to conclude the postmortem interval (PMI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: After obtaining institutional human ethical committee, tongue tissue was collected for during routine autopsy procedure. The study comprised twelve autopsied tongue tissues. The tissue specimens were subjected to routine laboratory tissue processing procedure and the histological changes were evaluated. CONCLUSION: This is the first study of this kind in the scientific literature to explore the tongue tissue to estimate the PMI. There were definite changes in the epithelium and the connective tissue of the tongue, and these features were highly remarkable at various postmortem time intervals.