Proof of air embolism after exhumation

The detection, storage, and analysis of gas taken from the heart ventricle is necessary to diagnose a fatal air embolism and this requires special precautions during autopsy. When the results of gas analysis correspond to the criteria defined by Pierucci and Gherson the diagnosis "air embolism" is justified. In cases showing putrefaction the diagnostic value of gas analysis was negated. In a series of 15 patients who were assumed to have been killed by air injection in a peripheral vein the corpses were exhumed and a full medico-legal examination was carried out including gas analysis. In 8 cases results could be obtained indicating a mixture of embolised air and gases of putrefaction. In two control groups comprising 10 exhumed bodies and 30 cases showing advanced putrefaction, gas analysis showed putrefaction gases except in 5 cases with gas volumes less than 5 ml in the right ventricle. Therefore gas analysis can be helpful to diagnose fatal air embolism even in cases showing putrefaction while the diagnosis of putrefaction gases only does not exclude this diagnosis.