We present here a brief literature review and a case study of postpartum pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare and progressive disease with a high maternal mortality rate. The patient, a 32-year-old woman, presented with dyspnea and shivering immediately following an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. The patient had no remarkable individual or familial history. She died 4 hours after her delivery, and an autopsy revealed atherosclerosis of the main pulmonary arteries and characteristic plexiform lesions on the lung. The remaining organs showed no remarkable pathology. We reported pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with pregnancy as the cause of death.
Adult ; Atherosclerosis ; Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Death, Sudden ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Lung ; Maternal Mortality ; Pathology ; Postpartum Period* ; Pregnancy ; Pulmonary Artery ; Shivering

The dissection in forensic case is basically similar to any other sutopsy, with variations according to the nature of the death and the needs of the particular investigation. There are a number of manuals devoted to the performance of an autopsy and here only an outline of the technique to examining abdominal organs and described some postmortem artefacts. There are many facets of the autopsy, and there are a number of associated matters. Thus procedure of the autopsy is properly operated according to the circumstances.
Artifacts ; Autopsy*

Medico-legal investigations in Korea depend mostly on postmortem inspection without autopsy. Both untrained physicians and experienced forensic pathologists may not be able to determine the cause and manner of death only by postmortem inspection. The aim of our study was to show the limitations of postmortem inspection by evaluating the discrepancy between the results of postmortem inspection and autopsy after natural death. The manner of death by postmortem inspection changed to unnatural death in 9.4% of the cases (12 cases/127 cases) after autopsy. The cause of death in most cases was consumption of alcohol, agricultural chemicals, and antipsychotic intoxication. The cause of death by postmortem inspection changed in 24.3% of the cases (26 cases/107 cases) among cases of confirmed natural death after autopsy. The positive predictive value of cause of death by postmortem inspection was higher for cardiovascular disease (79.0%) and lower for chronic alcoholism and/or chronic liver disease (28.6%). This study shows that forensic pathologists could make considerable errors in determining the cause and manner of death without autopsy and emphasizes the necessity to refine medico-legal investigations in Korea by introducing the limited autopsy with toxicologic study and supportive postmortem imaging.
Agrochemicals ; Alcoholism ; Autopsy ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Korea ; Liver Diseases

Adult polycystic kidney disease is a genetic disease characterized by bilateral multiple renal cysts and is transmitted as an autosomal dominant traits. The disease usually manifests in the fourth decade of life. The affected patients usually die with end stage renal failure, cardiovascular assaults and infection etc. Cardiovascular assaults include ruptured berry aneurysm, spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage, acute myocardial infarction, dissecting aortic aneurysm and hypertensive heart failure. Fatal intracranial hemorrhage and hypertensive heart failure occur in 15% and 2% of patients, respectively. Genetically-determined structural weakness in the arterial wall have been suggested as a possible factor in the genesis of berry aneurysm. We have experienced three autopsy cases with cardiovascular causes of sudden death. Two cases have intracranial hemorrhage (1 berry aneurysm and 1 intracerebral hemorrhage) and the remaining one is dead with hypertensive cardiomyopathy. All of them are aged over 40 years and associated with polycystic liver disease. Histologically, myriad cysts of enlarged bilateral kidney are lined by single layer of cuboidal cells with focal hyperplastic epithelial configuration. Diffusely scattered liver cysts are also lined by flat to cuboidal epithelium and often associated with portal fibrosis.
Adult* ; Aortic Aneurysm ; Autopsy ; Cardiomyopathies ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Death, Sudden ; Epithelium ; Fibrosis ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Kidney ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Myocardial Infarction ; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant* ; Renal Insufficiency

Transsexualism is a variety and complexity of conditions to the desire for sex change and may require medical treatments over psychological evaluations in some patients. Consequently, there is a potential confusion in the determination of anatomical sex in transsexuals arising from administration of hormone and/or sex reassignment surgery. In this article, we represent a case of a 52-year-old "woman"found dead on the road-side. "She"was naked on the scene and supposed to be murdered by strangulation of he neck. Surprisingly, autopsy findings as well as DNA typing revealed that "she"was transsexual once a man. We discuss medicolegal problems posed by medico-surgical treatment in transsexuals.
Autopsy* ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Female ; Homicide ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Sex Reassignment Surgery ; Transsexualism

Congenital pneumonia is defined as pneumonia acquired transplacentally or perinatally. It is frequently associated with prolonged rupture of the membranes, chorioamnionitis, prolonged labor, premature labor, fetal distress, prematurity and meconium staining. It is one of the important causes of neonatal death. We report a case of congenital pneumonia of a full-term, female neonate who was born by cesarian section and died at 10th hours of her life. There were no maternal signs and symptoms of infection and amniotic fluid was not stained with meconium at birth. We insist that full physical examination and routine laboratory examinations including simple chest X ray are required even in grossly normal neonate without specific risk factors and that possibility of neonatal pneumonia should always be considered when the cause of death cannot be explained immediately by gross autopsy findings.
Amniotic Fluid ; Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Chorioamnionitis ; Death, Sudden* ; Female ; Fetal Distress ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Meconium ; Membranes ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Parturition* ; Physical Examination ; Pneumonia* ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors ; Rupture ; Sudden Infant Death ; Thorax

The incidence of sudden death due to undiagnosed primary intracranial tumor is very low in forensic autopsy practice. The ganglioglioma is a well differentiated, slow growing primary brain tumor that is encountered predominantly in childhood. We report a sudden, unexpected death in a 6-year-old girl from a ganglioglioma. On autopsy, there was an intraventricular tumor with recent hemorrhage, occupying the anterior aspect of the lateral ventricle and resulting in hydrocephalus. Acute intratumoral hemorrhage appears to be the mechanism of sudden death.
Autopsy ; Brain Neoplasms ; Child ; Death, Sudden ; Ganglioglioma ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Incidence ; Lateral Ventricles

Vibrio vulnificus primary septicemia is a serious illness associated with high mortality rates and is caused by the ingestion of raw or undercooked shellfish. Most patients admitted with V. vulnificus infection are immunocompromised or have an underlying disease, such as liver cirrhosis or hemochromatosis. In contrast, the authors experienced an uncommon case in which a patient with no known underlying disease rapidly progressed to sepsis with hypotensive shock, followed by death within a few hours. Based on a postmortem examination, tissue cultures, and blood cultures, it was determined that the patient had been infected with V. vulnificus and had chronic liver disease. There are no reports in Korea on the clinicopathological findings of V. vulnificus infection. Here, we present the case of a patient with V. vulnificus septicemia and describe the associated clinical symptoms and clinicopathological findings discovered upon autopsy.
Autopsy ; Eating ; Hemochromatosis ; Humans ; Korea ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases ; Sepsis ; Shellfish ; Shock ; Vibrio ; Vibrio vulnificus

Since patients with intracranial neoplasms usually represent their neurological symptoms rather early in the course of the disease, sudden unexpected death due to intracranial neoplasms is an uncommon event seen only exceptionally in medicolegal autopsy practice. Although meningiom is one of the most common primary intracranial neoplasms, sudden death due to the tumor is an uncommon event. We report a sudden, unexpected death of a 56-year-old female with an undiagnosed olfactory groove meningioma. It is assumed that peritumoral edema is related to the sudden death among the several mechanisms.
Female ; Humans

Autoerotic death is an accident occurring during individual, usually solitary sexual activity in which a device or apparatus used to enhance the sexual stimulation. Although it is a well-known phenomenon described in many forensic medicine reports, cases are rare in Korea because of conservative tradition of the society and embarrassment of the victim 's family members. It may be far more common than realized. We present a case of the autoerotic accident involving a plastic bag asphyxia in a 67-year-old man. The death scene investigation and findings at autopsy will provide police officers and physicians with adequate knowledge about this phenomenon to make an accurate diagnosis.
Aged ; Asphyxia ; Autopsy ; Diagnosis ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Korea ; Plastics ; Police ; Sexual Behavior