TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Elevated body core temperature in medico-legal investigation of violent death
JO  - American journal of forensic medicine and pathology
A1  - Demierre, Nadine
A1  - Wyler, Daniel
A1  - Zollinger, Ulrich
A1  - Bolliger, Stephan Andreas
A1  - Plattner, Thomas
SP  - 155
EP  - 158
VL  - 30
IS  - 2
N2  - Pathologically elevated body core temperature, measured at the death scene, is an important finding in medico-legal investigation of violent deaths. An abnormally high rectal temperature at any death scene may point to an underlying pathology, the influence of certain drugs or a hidden cerebral traumatism, and death by suffocation which would remain undetected without further medico-legal investigations. Furthermore, hyperthermia and fever, if unrecognized, may result in an erroneous forensic estimation of time since death in the early postmortem period by the "Henssge method." By a retrospective study of 744 cases, the authors demonstrate that hyperthermia is a finding with an incidence of 10% of all cases of violent death. The main causes are: influence of drugs, malignant tumors, cerebral hypoxia as a result of suffocation, infections, and systemic inflammatory disorders. As a consequence it must be stated, that hyperthermia must be excluded in every medico-legal death scene investigation by a correct measurement of body core temperature and a comparison between the cooling rate of the body and the behavior of early postmortem changes, notably livor and rigor mortis.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0195-7910
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PAF.0b013e31819a04a6
ID  - ref1
ER  -