Barranco Rosario, Castiglioni Claudia, Ventura Francesco, Fracasso Tony
Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine, University of Genova, Via De' Toni 12, 16132 Genova, Italy.
University Center of Legal Medicine Lausanne-Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
Forensic Sci Int. 2019 May;298:157-160. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.03.004. Epub 2019 Mar 12.
Acute pulmonary emphysema (APE) is describedin cases of drowning and can be considered as a sign of vitality. In our experience, however, APE is not very evident in cases of saltwater drowning. The present study aims at investigating whether APE is present in both fresh and saltwater drowning by means of digital morphometric analysis of lung tissue. We investigated and compared a group of saltwater drowning and a group of freshwater drowning, while cases of acute external bleeding were investigated as negative control group. Tissue samples from each pulmonary lobe were collected during autopsy and examined by optical microscope. The area of alveolar spaces was calculated by means of image analysis software, recording the mean alveolar area (MAA) for each group. MAA was 24,852 μm in the saltwater drowning group, 34,133 μm in the freshwater drowning group and 21,871 μm in the negative control group. The MAA in freshwater drowning was significantly higher than in saltwater drowning and controls. No statistical differences were observed between saltwater drowning and controls. The results of this study suggest that APE is not a typical sign of death by saltwater drowning.
急性肺气肿（APE）在溺水病例中有所描述，可被视为生命体征。然而，根据我们的经验，APE在海水溺水病例中并不十分明显。本研究旨在通过对肺组织进行数字形态计量分析，调查淡水和海水溺水时是否存在APE。我们对一组海水溺水者和一组淡水溺水者进行了调查和比较，同时将急性外出血病例作为阴性对照组进行研究。尸检时从每个肺叶采集组织样本，并通过光学显微镜进行检查。利用图像分析软件计算肺泡腔面积，记录每组的平均肺泡面积（MAA）。海水溺水组的MAA为24,852μm²，淡水溺水组为34,133μm²，阴性对照组为21,871μm²。淡水溺水组的MAA显著高于海水溺水组和对照组。海水溺水组与对照组之间未观察到统计学差异。本研究结果表明，APE并非海水溺水死亡的典型体征。
