Estimation of Time Since Death From Morphological Changes Occurring in White Blood Cells After Death

There are several methods to estimate time since death, but no method, used singly, is totally reliable. After death, several morphological changes occur in all the cellular components of blood, including the white blood cells. In this study, blood samples were collected from 20 non-refrigerated cadavers, with known time and cause of death and without any hematological, oncological, or infectious disease, brought to the mortuary of a tertiary care hospital. One blood film was prepared and stained immediately, and subsequent blood films were made and stained at regular intervals up to 120 hours. It was observed that lymphocytes were most resistant and neutrophils were most vulnerable to autolytic changes following death. Observing the sequential changes occurring in the leucocytes in the postmortem period may serve as an additional parameter in determining the time since death.