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Putrefaction and wound dehiscence: a potentially confusing postmortem phenomenon.

Roger W Byard¹, Axel Gehl, Sven Anders

¹Forensic Science Centre and University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia. byard.roger@saugov.sa.gov.au

The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology

|February 28, 2006

Summary

Decomposition can mimic inflicted injuries. Healing surgical incisions, forced open by tissue breakdown, may appear as symmetrical wounds, but death was due to ischemic heart disease.

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Area of Science:

Forensic Pathology
Medical Science

Background:

Decomposition poses challenges in forensic investigations.
Putrefaction can significantly alter tissue appearance.

Observation:

A decomposed body presented with three incised wounds on the lower abdomen and groins.
Initial assessment suggested inflicted injury, but further examination was required.

Findings:

The wounds were identified as surgically created incisions that had dehisced.
Putrefactive processes, including tissue swelling and gas formation, had forced the wounds open.
The cause of death was determined to be ischemic heart disease.

Implications:

Decomposition can create artifactual lesions that mimic antemortem injuries.

Related Experiment Videos

Forensic practitioners must consider postmortem changes when evaluating wounds.

Symmetrical, cleanly incised wounds in decomposed bodies may represent disrupted surgical sites.