Postmortem diagnosis of acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis

Received 20 October 2009; received in revised form 13 March 2010; accepted 1 April 2010.

Abstract

Forensic pathologists can help in the investigation of sudden unexpected deaths in co-operation with the officials responsible for the maintenance of law and order to administer justice. Sudden unexpected deaths form the subject of medicolegal investigation if they occur in apparently healthy individuals, wherein an autopsy would shed light regarding the cause of death. A 4 year retrospective review of autopsy files at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, South India was undertaken for cases of sudden unexpected deaths due to acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis occurring between May 2004 and April 2008. A total of seven cases of acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis diagnosed at autopsy as the cause of sudden unexpected death during the study period are discussed herein.

Keywords: Sudden death, Pancreas, Acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis, Postmortem diagnosis, Autopsy

a Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Kasturba Medical College (Affiliated to Manipal University), Mangalore 575001, India

b Department of General Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Affiliated to Manipal University), Mangalore 575001, India

c Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, K.S. Hegde Medical Academy, Mangalore, India

d Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, India

e Department of Pathology, Kasturba Medical College (Affiliated to Manipal University), Mangalore 575001, India

f Department of Orthopaedics, Kasturba Medical College (Affiliated to Manipal University), Mangalore 575001, India

g Kasturba Medical College (Affiliated to Manipal University), Manipal 576104, India

h South Asian Cochrane Center, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India

Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9886092392; fax: +91 824 2428183.

PII: S1752-928X(10)00065-X

doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2010.04.013

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