A Very Unusual Accidental Mechanical Asphyxia of Choking with a Whole Solea Solea.

The case here reported involves a schizophrenic 19-year-old girl under treatment with clotiapine, which was well tolerated except for a moderate dry mouth. The woman ingested a whole sole (Solea solea), which caused a very rapid death by choking. A complete autopsy was performed 24 h later, as well as histological and toxicological analysis. At autopsy, the sole was wedged in the esophagus causing a choking ab extrinseco. The fish had a length of 18 cm and a maximum width of 6 cm, weighing 188.7 g. Toxicological analysis detected 0.57 mg/L of clotiapine in blood, which falls within the therapeutic range. The peculiarity of this case is represented by two factors: one is the choking by fish and the second was the adverse affect caused by clotiapine, which induced a condition of dry mouth making the act of swallowing even more difficult, thereby contributing to a very rapid mechanical asphyxia and the death of the young woman.

Iatrogenic left common iliac artery and vein perforation during lumbar discectomy: a fatal case.

Iatrogenic vascular injury during lumbar disk surgery, although rare, is a serious complication, and when it does occur, can be sudden and life-threatening. The risk of injury to the pelvic vessels intra-operatively can be explained by the close proximity of the retroperitoneal vessels to the vertebral column therefore causing injury to the anterior longitudinal ligament, which can give access to the retroperitoneal space. If signs of circulatory instability are noted during lumbar disk surgery, early diagnosis of vascular injury and urgent transperitoneal surgery or emergency stenting can save the patient's life. Here, is presented the case of a 52-year-old man who underwent an elective lumbar discectomy for a rightward disk herniation in the L4-L5 intervertebral space and died 12h after the operation for a hemorrhagic shock due to a severe intra-abdominal hemorrhage following iatrogenic left common iliac artery and vein perforation during lumbar discectomy.

Lethal rupture of post-traumatic aneurysm of the vertebral artery case report.

Traumatic aneurysms or dissections of the vertebral artery have been reported in patients who have suffered minor craniofacial injuries in traffic accidents. A case is reported of ruptured traumatic vertebral artery aneurysm due to closed head injury without without penetrating injuries or skull fractures. The macroscopic and histological findings relevant to the vertebral wall were compatible with post-traumatic aneurysm; the rupture of the wall was assumed to be caused by sepsis and local infiltration of inflammatory cells.