Postobstructive pulmonary edema is a life-threatening complication that occurs after the removal of severe upper airway obstruction. Development of postobstructive pulmonary edema has been described after several cases of upper airway obstruction. However, postobstructive pulmonary edema developing after non-lethal hanging has not been reported widely in the literature. Herein, we describe a fatal case of postobstructive pulmonary edema in a 10-year-old girl, which was brought to the hospital with history of attempted suicide by hanging. At presentation, the girl was breathing laboriously. The oxygen saturation was of 82% and pulmonary auscultation revealed bilateral and diffuse crepitations. The chest computed tomographic scan showed bilateral diffuse infiltrates consistent with pulmonary edema. After 3 days of hospitalization, the respiratory state of the girl worsened leading to death despite intensive care. An autopsy was conducted and confirmed the diffuse pulmonary edema. Hence, this case confirms that delayed death in near hanging may occur. Pulmonary edema which develops subsequently in such patients is an uncommon mechanism of death that physicians should consider in emergency room.
The spontaneous subcapsular hematoma of the liver is very rare. There are only a few reported cases in the literature.Most reported cases of liver hematoma often occur during pregnancy as part of the hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count syndrome. The other causes may be due to amylosis, rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma, adenoma, focal nodular hyperplasia, hemorrhagic cyst, or hemopathy. Idiopathic spontaneous subscapular hematoma is a rare and often fatal condition.We report a case of a 43-year-old woman having Steinert disease who died because of a fatal spontaneous liver hemorrhage occurring without any traumatism. We did not find any apparent cause that could explain this hemorrhage even after a histological study of the liver.
Discovery of bruises in the muscles of the neck and a fracture of the hyoid bone in a body recovered from water makes the diagnosis and the determination of the manner of death difficult.The aims of this work are to report a case of a drowned body with cervical injuries and to highlight the importance of interpreting these findings accurately.A 39-year-old woman was found dead face down in a 6-m deep well with a 3-m water level. She was mentally disturbed and had a history of suicide attempts. In fact, she had previously attempted to jump into that well in an attempt to put an end to her life. The autopsy revealed bruises in the muscles of the neck and a bruise associated with a fracture of the left horn of the hyoid bone.The mechanism for the origin of drowning-related neck injuries will be discussed.
Chronic calcific constrictive pericarditis is a rare condition. It can cause severe morbidity and even mortality. The diagnosis may be difficult to establish due to its variable clinical signs. We report an autopsy case of a 54-year-old male with a past medical history of well treated hypertension, diabetes and dyspnea present of 2 weeks, who was discovered dead in his bed. The postmortem examination showed a large band of calcification of the pericardium with obliteration of the pericardial space. Both pericardium and epicardium were thickened with bread-and-butter appearance. Microscopic examination showed thickened pericadium which is formed by a fibrous paucicellular tissue containing extensive basophilic calcifications.
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