Death in head-down position: an autopsy report with reference to physiological mechanism.
A 74-year-old man was found dead in the head-down position in a hole in a pile of trash at his home. There was severe congestion and hemorrhage in the head and neck regions, and bronchial petechiae. Head-down tilt is a well-known model in studying the effects of weightlessness during space flight. By comparing our case with the physiological studies on head-down tilt, we determined that the head-down posture would increase cardiac output, and systemic and intracranial pressure, while it would suppress respiration by a central or peripheral mechanism.
Yoshida
K
K
Department of Legal Medicine, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Ube, Japan.
Harada
K
K
Sorimachi
Y
Y
Makisumi
T
T
D000368:Aged; D017704:Baroreflex; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000473:pathology*; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D011180:Postmortem Changes