Cambios postmortem y data de la muerte en ambientes tropicales / Post mortem changes and dates of death in tropical environments

La alta temperatura y humedad del trópico contribuyen al rápido deterioro de los cadáveres alterando su aspecto y la morfología de las lesiones. El clima tropical también aumenta la probabilidad de la aparición de artefactos ya sea por factores externos (especialmente la actividad animal) o internos (propios del cadáver). Ante el hallazgo de un cuerpo putrefacto, el intervalo post mortem se establece utilizando, entre otros, los criterios de referencia disponibles en la literatura médico legal. Sin embargo, son escasos los estudios específicos sobre cambios postmortem y data de la muerte en ambientes tropicales, como los de la mayor parte del territorio de la República de Panamá, casi todos los datos disponibles se refieren a las variaciones que ocurren en ambientes de clima templado con transiciones estacionales de medio ambiente. Se revisan los criterios de aparición y desarrollo de los fenómenos cadavéricos (especialmente la putrefacción) consignados por autores de diferentes países con distintos climas, con el propósito de documentar las disparidades de criterios existentes, señalar su limitada aplicación en la estimación de la data de la muerte en ambientes tropicales y proponer líneas de investigación sobre este tema.

High temperature and humidity contribute to the rapid deterioration of bodies altering their aspect and the morphology of the injuries. The tropical climate also increases the probability of the appearance of artifacts due to external factor (especially animal activity) or internal (body factors). When a decomposed body is found, the post mortem interval is established using, among others, the available criteria of reference in the medico legal literature. Nevertheless, specific studies on post mortem changes and time of death in tropical environments, as those found in the Republic of Panama, are scanty. Most of the available information refers to the variations in moderate climates with seasonal variations. A review of the criteria of beginning and development of the cadaveric phenomena (especially decomposition) recorded by authors of different countries in different climates, with the intention of documenting the disparities of existing criteria and limited application in the establishment of the post mortem interval in tropical environments, is done, proposing lines of research in this topic.

An entomological study to determine the time since death in cases of decomposed bodies.

Forensic entomology is the application of knowledge of insects during investigation of crimes or other legal matters. For investigation of crime, it is very important to determine time since death, which is easy to determine in the early post-mortem period, but poses a problem in the late stages. In this study an effort has been made to determine post-mortem interval in the late stages (decomposed bodies) by studying insect evidence. Insect evidence in the form of blow flies in their different stage of development was found on fresh and decaying corpses. Beetles were found on skeletonised bodies. Since the arthropods are poikilothermic and their development period gets influenced by ambient temperature therefore a record of prevailing temperature was maintained for the set period. Average temperature and humidity was calculated from the meteorological department at Raja Sansi Airport, Amritsar, from the day of recovery of body to rearing up of insects to adult stage. Identification of insects was carried out in collaboration with Zoology Department of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.