Significance of skin metallization in the diagnosis of electrocution

The differentiation of minute current marks from the faint traces of burns may offer some difficulties. Marcinkowski and Wojciechowski (1973) treated the skin of corpses with the same metal objects either heated to a high temperature or exposed to 250 V of alternating current, and determined (by an electrographic method) that metallization appeared only after applying the electric current. The continuation of these observations is linked with the actual experimental studies of Pankowski. By treating the skin of corpses with alternating and direct current of 10, 50, 100 and 250 V for 0.3 sec, 1 sec, 30 sec and 1 min passing through a radioactive electrode of 60Co, he has shown that the radioactivity of the skin at the site of electrode contact increases with the elevation of the voltage and its duration. In the case of direct current the rise was 630-54000-fold at the site of the positive electrode. Using electrodes of copper, aluminium and iron (not radioactive) it has also been shown (by an electrographic method) that metallization intensifies under the same conditions of time and voltage. Metallization could be detected even when no current marks on the skin were evident. Electrography appears to be extremely useful in the detection of metallization. No metallization was detected at the site of the negative electrode (as refers to direct current).