@article{ref1,
title="Complete decapitation by a self-constructed guillotine in a burned body - complex suicide or postmortem burning?",
journal="International journal of legal medicine",
year="2020",
author="Ishigami, Akiko and Hata, Satoshi and Ishida, Yuko and Nosaka, Mizuho and Kuninaka, Yumi and Yamamoto, Hiroki and Shimada, Emi and Hashizume, Yumiko and Takayasu, Tatsunori and Kimura, Akihiko and Furukawa, Fukumi and Kondo, Toshikazu",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="We report a suicide case of complete decapitation using a self-constructed guillotine. A 45-year-old man, whose body was severely burned, was found dead. The head was completely separated from the middle level of the neck, and a sharp blade with a steel frame was placed between the head and neck. The severance plane passed between the C4 and C5 vertebrae. Vital reactions such as hemorrhage could not be confirmed at the decapitated skin edge because the body was severely burned. Both common carotid arteries were sharply transected. Subendocardial hemorrhage was detected in the left ventricle. Only a little blood, but no soot, was detected in the respiratory tract, including the trachea and bilateral bronchi. Subarachnoid hemorrhage was noted at the edge of the cervical spinal cord. The saturation level of CO-Hb was 5.7% in the left cardiac blood, 5.9% in the right cardiac blood, and 5.8% in the peripheral blood from the femoral vein. Cervical transection was diagnosed as the cause of death. We believe that he was unintentionally burned by spread fire from an automobile after decapitation by a self-constructed guillotine.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0937-9827",
doi="10.1007/s00414-020-02323-y",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02323-y"
}