A fatal case of puffer poisoning in an 80-year-old man is reported. By using a bioassay with mice and extracts of crude poisons, the toxicities of the autopsy materials, fresh puffer ovaries, and the remaining cooked ovaries were determined and expressed in mouse units per gram (M.U.). Some medicolegal aspects of puffer poisoning are also discussed. Puffer poisoning is a primary cause of fatal food poisoning in Japan even though its frequency is not high.
A 20-year-old male presented with traumatic basal subarachnoid hemorrhage after being involved in a fight. Antemortem clinical examinations could not exclude the possibility of rupture of abnormal blood vessels because of the absence of external injuries. Careful postmortem examination of the head and neck regions and histological examination of the intracranial arteries demonstrated traumatic rupture of the left posterior inferior cerebellar artery due to a fist blow to the jaw. This case indicates the need for careful autopsy examination for the differentiation of traumatic and non-traumatic basal subarachnoid hemorrhages.
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