Forensic Medicine and Pathology

Gross and Histopathological Findings in the First Reported Vaping-Induced Lung Injury Death in the United States The popularity of e-cigarettes (vaping) has been on the rise in recent years, but the adverse effects of vaping have been greatly unknown. In 2019, the use of vaping products has been linked to an outbreak of severe lung disease, some cases of which have progressed to death. One death attributed to vaping is presented with emphasis on the gross and histopathological findings from the autopsy. These findings were correlated with the patient's clinical course and medicolegal investigation to determine the cause of death. To our knowledge, this is the first confirmed death in the United States that was directly attributed to the use of vaping.

The Relationship of Injury and Complaints of Police Use of Excessive Force Use of excessive force (UOEF) is an important and controversial topic but little is known about how injury severity is related to allegations of UOEF. We hypothesized that such complaints would be associated with more significant traumatic injuries. Emergency department records were searched for all individuals making UOEF complaints against an urban police department from 2010 to 2012. Demographic, diagnosis, and other medical data, including Injury Severity Score, were obtained. From police records, force used, suspect resistance and threat, and other call data were obtained. The same data were collected for a control group randomly chosen from all use-of-force events identified during the study period. Of the 235 complaints filed, 42 (18%) subjects had medical evaluation. The control group was significantly younger and more likely to be male; there was no significant difference in race or income. Major injuries were infrequent. No significant difference was found in Injury Severity Score or other medical variables between the 2 groups. Among the law enforcement variables, the only significant difference was a higher likelihood of psychiatric-related calls in the control group. The majority of patients alleging UOEF did not require immediate medical attention, and we found no relationship between injury severity and UOEF complaints.

Death Certification in Northern Alberta: Error Occurrence Rate and Educational Intervention Errors in death certification can directly affect the decedent's survivors and the public register. We assessed the effectiveness of an educational seminar targeting frequent and important errors identified by local death certificate (DC) evaluation. Retrospective review of 1500 DCs categorized errors and physician specialty. A 60-minute didactic/case-based seminar was subsequently designed for family medicine physician (FAM) participants, with administration of presurvey, immediate post, and 2-month postsurveys. Most DCs were completed by FAM (73%), followed by internists (18%) and surgeons (3%). Error occurrence (EO) rate ranged between 32 and 75% across all specialities. Family medicine physician experienced in palliative care had the lowest EO rate (32%), significantly lower (P < 0.001) than FAM without interest in palliative care (62%), internal medicine (62%), and surgery (75%). Common errors were use of abbreviations (26%), mechanism as underlying cause of death (23%), and no underlying cause of death recorded (22%). Presurvey participants (n = 72) had an overall EO rate of 72% (64% excluding formatting errors). Immediate postsurvey (n = 75) and 2-month postsurvey (n = 24) participants demonstrated significantly lower overall EO (34% and 24%, respectively), compared with the Pre-S (P < 0.05). A 60-minute seminar on death certification reduced EO rate with perceived long-term effects.

An 8-Year Retrospective Study on Suicides in Washington, DC The suicide rate in the United States has been increasing steadily over the previous 10 years. In DC, these results are not mirrored. The suicide rate has a tendency to be lower than the rest of the country. During this retrospective review of suicides in DC, factors such as medical history and toxicology results were examined. In this study performed over 8 years (2009–2016), 394 suicides occurred. It was found that decedents committed suicide mostly by hanging (31.2%), firearms (20.3%), or drug intoxication (15.7%). The average age was 44.5 years. Similar to national statistics, male individuals committed suicide at a higher rate (77.9%) than did female individuals (22.1%). The toxicology data showed that ethanol (26.4%), antidepressants (20.1%), opioids (14.9%), and benzodiazepines (12.9%) were the drugs most frequently involved, although the finding of no drugs was most common (33.7%). Ethanol was present in 5 methods of suicide that include death by hanging, drowning, firearm, suffocation, and poisoning. This research provides information that may be useful for public health officials when confronting the issue of suicide. It is hoped that it will encourage other medical examiner offices to perform toxicological analysis and autopsy of all suicide cases.

Media-Based Research on Selfie-Related Deaths in Italy Background The incidence of taking selfies and sharing them on social media as well as selfie-related dangerous behaviors is increasing, particularly among young people, also leading to selfie-related trauma and death. This study was performed to obtain epidemiological characteristics of selfie-related mortality in Italy. Methods Scientific literature and Italian media were reviewed. Results Twelve victims from 11 events, from 2014 to 2018, were analyzed (sex, age, accident types, the nationality, the Italian region where the incident took place, if the person involved was indigenous or a tourist, the dynamics and the causa mortis, if other people have been involved in the selfie, and if other people were deceased). The majority of selfie victims were male teenagers, the average age was 23.6 years, the most preferred site of taking selfies was the natural environment followed by the railway one, the most frequently reported event or accident type was falling from a height, and the most frequent causes of selfie-related deaths were multitrauma and drowning. Conclusions Selfie-related deaths in Italy appear to be an issue and appear to be increasing. Particularly, male teenagers and young adults are at high risk for selfie-related deaths. Measures should be taken to reduce their incidence.

Thymus Involution and Intravenous Drug Abuse Thymus glands from 283 autopsy cases were sampled and evaluated with histochemical and immunohistochemical methods. A subpopulation of 41 intravenous drug addicts were compared with age-matched control cases. It was found that an accelerated involution of the thymus occurred in the 20- to 25-year interval and thereafter with a steady pace of 5% per year. Also the size of Hassall bodies declined successively. In drug addicts, an increased dystrophic calcification of the Hassall bodies and a significant difference in thymus size (atrophy) compared with controls were seen. Moreover, a difference was seen in the relative numbers of CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes where CD4+ cells were reduced in drug addicts. It is hypothesized that signs of hepatitis C virus infection that was found in the majority of drug addicts and the reduced number of functionally intact Hassall corpuscles could explain the reduction of CD4+ lymphocytes and thymic hypotrophy in this population.

Right Ventricle Rupture After Open Heart Surgery The potential complications of cardiac surgery with sternotomy include mediastinitis and major bleeding, events that are infrequent but carry high mortality. We report a unique complication of median sternotomy. A 71-year-old man underwent coronary artery bypass grafting complicated by sternal dehiscence on postoperative day 7. One week after discharge, he presented with purulent drainage from the sternal wound bed and was diagnosed as having mediastinitis. Irrigation, debridement, and sternal reconstruction were performed. Two days later, bleeding was observed in the wound, and during surgical exploration, a tear in the right ventricle was discovered, and the patient exsanguinated and died. Autopsy findings included focal adhesions connecting the posterior sternum to the right ventricle wall, as well as microscopic evidence of focally extensive fatty infiltration along the rupture margin of the myocardium. Pertinent aspects of the case are reviewed, with particular attention to the possible microbial etiology of mediastinal infection and most likely mechanisms of injury contributing to the fatal right ventricular rupture.

Anterior Tricuspid Leaflet Cleft in an Adult Male: An Autopsy Case Report The deceased was a 44-year-old male who was treated for a suspected Ebstein's anomaly observed using transthoracic echocardiogram. He was found dead in his bed at home. Autopsy revealed that the septal tricuspid leaflet was intact; however, a large anterior tricuspid leaflet cleft and right atrioventricular cavity dilation were observed. Pathological examination revealed a normal tricuspid valve, except for the presence of a cleft with local fibrosis of the left ventricle papillary muscle and hemosiderin-containing macrophages at both lungs. There were no other abnormalities that may have led to death. It was concluded that he died a cardiac death based on the right heart overload associated with the anterior tricuspid leaflet cleft. This case indicates the possibility that the anterior tricuspid leaflet cleft can cause death and also highlights the necessity of a detailed autopsy to accurately diagnose the cause of death.

Severe Myocardial Steatosis: Incidental Finding or a Significant Anatomic Substrate for Sudden Cardiac Arrest? Myocardial steatosis, also known as lipomatosis cordis, is characterized by adipose tissue within the myocardium without significant fibrosis. Evidence suggests that accumulation of fat can disturb the normal electromechanical physiology of the myocardium. Herein, we discuss the case of a 60-year-old woman with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who died because of anoxic encephalopathy after a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). An electrocardiogram showed QRS fragmentation noted as notched R in inferior leads. The autopsy revealed a very small thromboembolus in a distal subsegmental branch of the pulmonary artery, which could not explain the SCA. There was an extensive intramyocardial accumulation of adipose tissue involving the right ventricle and interventricular septum, which split the myocardium into discrete bundles. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy was ruled out based on the absence of typical fibrofatty changes. The mechanism of fat replacement was likely secondary to redistribution of visceral fat in the setting of Cushing syndrome. We propose that severe myocardial steatosis can create an anatomic substrate to facilitate the development of SCA. Myocardial steatosis should be reported to identify patients who are at risk for developing cardiovascular events secondary to extreme cardiac adiposity.

Postmortem Chikungunya Diagnosis: A Case Report and Literature Review Chikungunya is a mosquito-transmitted viral illness with clinical hallmarks of rash, fever, arthralgia, and myalgia. It is rarely fatal, although vulnerable populations, to include elderly, children, and those with multiple comorbid illnesses, are more susceptible to severe infection and death. There have been multiple areas of the world with periodic chikungunya epidemics. With increased immigration, foreign travel, epidemics, and global spread of the virus, it is prudent to consider chikungunya as a diagnosis both clinically and postmortem when a patient presents with rash, fevers, and arthralgia. We present a case of a patient with recent foreign travel, a rash, fever, and arthralgia with mosquito bites who succumbed to chikungunya viral infection with pneumonia. His diagnosis was established postmortem. A review of the literature is included in this report. This case stresses the delayed time to diagnose chikungunya with serologic testing and the importance of using reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction to aid in rapid and accurate diagnosis and management.