Room saturation with acetylene: a new and lethal manner of theft. A medico-legal case.

In pathological-forensic literature blast injuries are usually studied in relation to suicides, homicides during terroristic attacks and accidental events on the workplace, while the finding of these kinds of fatalities during misdoing is a recent occurrence. The Authors describe the peculiar case of the accidental death of the member of a criminal mob specialized in thefts to ATMs using acetylene tanks. The victim, having poured out the acetylene with the intent of triggering an explosion, was involved in the blast of the tank, deceasing immediately. This unusual manner of death highlights the danger of room saturation with acetylene, a criminal technique becoming more and more popular in the last years.

Lethal cardiac amyloidosis: Modification of the Congo Red technique on a forensic case.

Congo Red staining is usually used in diagnosing amyloidosis, a pathology characterized by the storage of abnormal proteins in several human organs. When assessed on samples fixated in formalin and embended in paraffin, this staining can undergo several artefacts, causing diagnostic and interpretative difficulties due to its weak stainability and a consequent reduced visibility of the amyloid. These complications, in time, requested several variations of this staining technique, especially in clinical practice, while in the forensic field no protocols has ever been adapted to cadaveric samples, a material that is already characteristically burdened by a peculiar stainability. In our work, studying a sudden death caused by cardiac amyloidosis and diagnosed only with post-mortem exams, we present a modified Congo Red staining used with the purpose to demonstrate amyloid in cadaveric material after the unsuccessfully use of all standard protocols.

Technical note: Improvement of cadaveric skin samples (with severe morphological alteration connected to putrefaction or injury) by an extended histological processing.

INTRODUCTION: The microscopic study and the interpretation of skin samples with advanced post-mortal phenomena or with particular destructive injuries is problematic for the forensic pathologist. In an attempt of restoring the histological architecture of cadaveric skin and overcoming these types of problem, the Authors performed a histological processing that was longer than the standard: it was extended until 62 days to evaluate the improvement of the microscopic morphological aspect. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cutaneous samples were taken from 25 cadavers (5 typologies of skin: charred, putrified, corifed, mummified and partially skeletonized), fixed with a 10%-buffered formalin and then processed in two different ways: one half of the samples was routinely addressed to the standard-time automatic technique, while the other half was manually processed with prolonged times. All the slides were then stained in Hematoxylin-Eosin. RESULTS: The standard-processed slides demonstrated marked morphological alterations and artefacts at the microscopic observation; conversely, those processed with the prolonged manual technique showed an improvement in the morphological structure, sometimes permitting the identification of the anatomical components. CONCLUSION: Though it is characterized by the inconvenience of protracted times, the application of a long-term manual histological processing to cadaveric skin samples with advanced post-mortal alteration permits to better observe the anatomical architecture of skin and it could be useful and helpful in the evaluation of such cases.

Sudden death from systemic sarcoidosis: a case of legal medicine.

INTRODUCTION: The sarcoid condition of vital organs such as heart, lungs, liver and brain, may constitute, though rarely, a dangerous situation for survival. In forensic pathology, sudden death related to such disease represents an unusual event occurring in subjects who die unexpectedly in spite of their previous good health, and whose autopsy reveals, mainly, the involvement of heart or the central nervous system (CNS). THE CASE: The Authors describe a case of sudden death due to systemic sarcoidosis with atypical presentation in a young South American nulliparous woman showing, as the only symptom, occasional episodes of spotting during the last two months of her life. RESULTS: The only noteworthy finding from the autopsy resulted in secondary obstructive hydrocephalus. The subsequent forensic toxicological examination was negative, whereas the histopathological examination, conducted by means of post-fixation techniques and standard coloring methods on the viscera removed during autopsy, revealed useful data to determine the cause of death, consisting of a diffuse inflammatory reaction with giant cells and epithelioid cells of sarcoid type localized in the CNS and in the genitourinary apparatus. CONCLUSIONS: The case presented, ranking among deaths occurred unexpectedly, is a useful opportunity both for clinical remarks, given its inherent diagnostic difficulties, especially in the presence of atypical symptoms, and for legal medicine ones, given the inclusion of sarcoidosis in cases of sudden death that can give rise to criminal investigations.

Detection of gunshot residues on cadaveric skin using sodium rhodizonate and a counterstain.

We report a staining method for cadaveric tissue using sodium rhodizonate as a skin marker for gunshot residues and a counterstain for the surrounding connective tissue. We studied six well preserved subjects who had died of close range gunshot injury. Skin fragments were removed from the bullet entrance hole including both the disrupted area and adjacent macroscopically intact tissue. Because microscopic examination of postmortem material is difficult after histomorphologic alterations already have occurred as a consequence of postmortem tissue changes, it is necessary to use a staining method that, while detecting gunshot residues, can also make skin cell constituents recognizable from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Triphenylmethane dyes (acid fuchsin, aniline blue WS, light green SF yellowish, brilliant green and ethyl green) have proven appropriate for the purpose.