Sully Claire J, Walker G Stewart, Langlois Neil E I
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Sturt Rd, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Australia.
Forensic Science SA, GPO Box 2790, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.
Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2018 Sep;14(3):342-348. doi: 10.1007/s12024-018-9998-2. Epub 2018 Jul 4.
The forensic investigation of a deceased person retrieved following a fire includes measuring carboxyhemoglobin. A carboxyhemoglobin saturation above 10% is considered indicative of respiration during a fire, implying the person had been alive. This relies on the assumption that carbon monoxide will not diffuse into blood used for toxicological analysis. This project investigated the potential for carbon monoxide to passively diffuse into a body and if carboxyhemoglobin levels could become elevated post-mortem. Stillborn piglets with intact skin were exposed to carbon monoxide. Carboxyhemoglobin formed in the hypostasis of the skin, but carboxyhemoglobin levels in blood from the heart and chest cavities were not significantly elevated. However, defects in the skin over body cavities (producing breaches to replicate cases with stab wounds or heat damage) resulted in cavity blood carboxyhemoglobin levels above 10%. A review of fire death cases in South Australia 2000-2015 was performed to determine the origin of the blood samples used for toxicological analysis and the incidence of cases with breaches of body cavities. This revealed a small number of cases in which blood from the cavities had been analyzed when cavity breaches were present. Thus, there is a potential for significant elevation of carboxyhemoglobin saturation post-mortem in forensic casework involving bodies retrieved from fires.
对火灾后找回的死者进行法医调查包括测量碳氧血红蛋白。碳氧血红蛋白饱和度超过10%被认为表明在火灾发生时进行了呼吸，这意味着该人当时还活着。这依赖于一氧化碳不会扩散到用于毒理学分析的血液中的假设。本项目研究了一氧化碳被动扩散到尸体中的可能性以及死后碳氧血红蛋白水平是否会升高。将皮肤完整的死产仔猪暴露于一氧化碳中。皮肤坠积部位形成了碳氧血红蛋白，但心脏和胸腔血液中的碳氧血红蛋白水平没有显著升高。然而，体腔上方皮肤的缺陷（造成创口以复制刺伤或热损伤的案例）导致体腔血液碳氧血红蛋白水平超过10%。对2000年至2015年南澳大利亚州的火灾死亡案例进行了回顾，以确定用于毒理学分析的血液样本来源以及体腔有创口的案例发生率。这显示在少数案例中，当体腔有创口时对体腔血液进行了分析。因此，在涉及从火灾中找回尸体的法医案件工作中，死后碳氧血红蛋白饱和度有显著升高的可能性。
