TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - "Breaking heart" due to hydrofluoric acid burns in a case of homicide
JO  - Forensic science international
A1  - Hu, Hsuan-Yun
A1  - Wei, Shyh-Yuh
A1  - Lin, Szu-Yu
A1  - Chen, Li-Hsuan
A1  - Pan, Chih-Hsin
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - Homicide attacks in which hydrofluoric acid (HF) is used are very rare, and few studies have reported the pathological changes. Hypocalcemia is thought to be the cause of sudden death from HF; nevertheless, after neutralization of the blood concentration of calcium ions, HF-induced arrhythmia may still occur, suggesting that in addition to hypocalcemia, direct toxic effects of HF may play a pivotal role in myocardial damage. Here, we report a homicidal forensic autopsy case with pathological changes of the myocardium due to HF burns. Von Kossa staining and immunohistochemical staining were also performed. The cause of death was given as HF toxicity with direct toxic effects on myocardial damage as ischemic injury may occur prior to ventricular fibrillation in the present case. The present case shows that myocardial damage should be given more attention in the clinical treatment and forensic autopsy of HF burns.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0379-0738
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2022.111468
ID  - ref1
ER  -