Korean J Leg Med.  2013 Aug;37(3):119-128. 10.7580/kjlm.2013.37.3.119.

Comparison of Pathologic Findings by Seawater or Fresh Water Drowning on the Experimental Animals

• Hong JW
• Lim SC
• Kim YS

• KMID: 2305463
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2013.37.3.119

Abstract

Death by drowning is a major cause of unnatural death worldwide. It is therefore important to conduct forensic examination of immersed bodies following drowning, in order to determine the diagnosis of drowning, because no specific methods have been established thus far. Therefore, we performed a series of rat experiments to compare autopsy findings between seawater and fresh water drowning cases, which included the presence of pleural effusion and histologic findings of the lung. The results showed that the volume of pleural effusion increased in the seawater drowning group compared to the fresh water drowning group, and the total weight of lung was affected by the type of drowning medium and postmortem interval. However, histologic findings of the lung showed no significant difference between the 2 types of drowning mediums.

Keyword

Drowning; Seawater; Fresh water; Pleural effusion; Lung weight

MeSH Terms

Animals
Autopsy
Drowning
Fresh Water
Lung
Pleural Effusion
Rats
Seawater

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Thoracic cage was opened to examine the volume of pleural effusion (a: seawater, 2 hr; b: seawater, 20 hr; c: postmortem, seawater, 20 hr; d: freshwater, 2 hr; e: freshwater, 20 hr; f: postmortem, freshwater, 20 hr).

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  Fig. 2. Histogram shows rat’ s lung weight depending on the experimental condition.

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  Fig. 3. Photograph shows ventral surface of the lung (a: seawater, 2 hr; b: seawater, 20 hr; c: postmortem, seawater, 20 hr; d: freshwater, 2 hr; e: freshwater, 20 hr; f: postmortem, freshwater, 20 hr).

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  Fig. 4. Histologic section of rat’ s lung tissues shows alveolar edema, perivascular edema, alveolar hemorrhage and bronchiolar hemorrhage (a: 3+ of alveolar edema in #18, H&E, × 200; b: 3+ of perivascular edema in #4, H & E, × 200; c: 3+of alveolar hemorrhage in #20, H & E, × 200; d: 3+ of bronchiolar hemorrhage in #14, H & E, × 200).

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