Central nervous system calcifications following tap water rinsing in autopsy material from children. A pitfall

CNS from 80 children collected consecutively at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Aarhus, were investigated. Owing to peculiar calcifications of the first 41 CNS examined, we gradually came to suspect that some external factors had influenced the results. Different fixation methods used on the CNS, rinsed or not rinsed in tap water, led us to suggest that the relatively high calcium content in the tap water in our part of the country was the cause. The non-pathologic calcification could presumably mimic metabolic diseases.