Changes After Death

Dr. Raid Jastania

Changes After Death

Decomposition
Why do we need to know:
Not to misinterpret these changes
Help to determine time (place) of death

Early Changes

No breathing, no circulation
Fall in blood pressure
Metabolism gradually stops
Loss of neoronal activity
No reflexes, no corneal reflex, fixed dilated
pupils, eye looses the tension

Early Changes
Primary Flaccidity: complete loss of tone
Muscle may be still reactive for hours (focal
twitching)
Pale skin and conjunctiva
Face may remain blue/red
?? Hair continues to grow
Loss of sphincter action: pass urine, semen,
regurgitation of food

Rigor Mortis
Lack of oxygen no energy no ATP
glycolysis lactic acid acidic cytoplasm actin
and myocin bind
Stiff Muscle
Factors affects Rigor Mortis:

Level of glycogen
Level of lactic acid
Body built
Temperature, weather

Rigor Mortis
What is Rigor mortis like if death occurs
after

exercise,
electric shock,
in infant,
in elderly
In summer
In winter

Rigor Mortis
Starts in small muscle around eyes and mouth,
jaw, fingers,
Then spreads from head to legs
Estimated time of death:

In face: 1-4 hours

Limbs: 4-6 hours
Increase in strength for the next 6-12 hours
Decomposition starts
Secondary flaccidity from 24-50 hours

Rigor Mortis

Body feels warm & Flaccid: <3 hours

Body feels warm & Stiff: 3-8 hours
Body feels cold & stiff: 8-36 hours
Body feels cold & flaccid: > 36 hours

Cadaveric Rigidity
Forensic rarity
Stiffness of muscle occurring immediately
at time of death
Finding items in hands
?emotional/physical stress at death

Post Mortem Hypostasis

(Lividity)
No circulation, relaxation of blood vessels
Blood moves to dependent area
Positioning of body: supine, prone, on side,
on head, hanging
Pink-blue color of the dependent area
May not be apparent in infants, elderly,
anemic
Difficult to see in dark skin, jaundice

Post Mortem Hypostasis

(Lividity)
Blanching:
Around face (not asphyxia)

Color:

Pink deep pink blue purple

Cheery pink: in carbon monoxide poisoning
Dark red: in cyanide poisoning
In hypothermia: pink around large joints

Movement of body and change in lividity!

Cooling of the body after Death

Physical property
Assumptions:
Temperature was 37 at the time of death
Thermally static environment

Cooling of the body after Death

Variables:

Mass of body
Surface area
Body temperature at death
Site of reading
Posture
Clothing
Environment temperature
Winds, humidity, rain

Estimation of the time of Death

Body temperature
Rectal, ears, nose, liver
Henssges Nomogram
Body temperature
Ambient temperature
Body weight

Other methods
Gastric contents
Entomologist
Anthropologist

Decomposition
Air
Dry, wet
Water

Putrefaction
The most common route of decomposition
Liquifaction of the soft tissue over time
The warmer the temperature, the earlier the
process

Putrefaction
Visible 3-4 days
Green discoloration in the right iliac fossa
Marbling of skin: linear branching ptterns
of brown discoloration of skin
Blistering, skin sloughs off
Gas formation, swelling of body: face,
abdomen, breast, genitalia

Putrefaction
Increase internal pressure, protrusion of
tongue, eyes,
Bloody fluids
Within a week: body cavity will burst
Tissue liquify

Mummification
Dry condition, eg. Dessert
Drying and leathery body
Part or whole body

Adipocere
Wet condition, water
Chemical change of body fat to waxy
compound material
Pale, greasy semi fluid material, unpleasant
smell
Firm waxy compound material: takes weeks
to months to form

Skeletalization
More quickly to occur on the surface than in
burried body
Soft tissue will be absent by 2 years
Tendon, ligaments, hair nails may remain
By 5 years bone disarticulate

Identification
Living: coma, amnesia, infancy, mental
defect
Decomposed body
Following injury
Mass disasters

General Morphologic Features

Appearance
Height, weight
Hair color, length
Beard, moustache
Skin pigmentation
Ethnic background

Eye color
Clothing, jewellery
Tatoo, surgical scars
Injuries, deformities
Age:
Estimation
Ossification center

Fingerprint
Chance of identical finger print is: 1 in 64
million
Identical twins

Teeth
Identification of person
Age
Bite marks

Identification of origin of tissue

Why:

Blood, semen, saliva..

Come from suspect for victem
Match of human remains
Resolve paternity/maternity

Identification of origin of tissue

DNA profiling:
Matching
Paternity, maternity
Sampling:
Nucleated cells: wbc, hair root bulb cells, sperms,
buccal smear..

Identification of origin of tissue

Human Remains

Are they human

Is it one or more bodies
Sex: skull, pelvis
Age
Up to 20-25 years, age can be estimated within
couple of years
>25 years more difficult to estimate