[Case of death by fire with kerosene--analysis of contents of trachea and stomach].
In death caused by fuel oil burning, it's difficult to examine the vital reaction in the burning skin surface. In these cases, in stead of skin examination, we've been determining the fuel oil in blood. In this case, besides this method, we tried to examine the contents of the trachea of a person who died of kerosene oil burns.


METHODS
A 49-year-old female was found dead in a cabin. Burns on her body ranged from first to fourth-degree, and 91% of the body was charred. Carbon particles were detected within the trachea and the bronchus, and were slightly detected in the gastric contents and the esophagus. Carboxyhemoglobin concentration was found to be 21% in the right heart blood and 22% in the left heart blood. The level of cyanide detected was 4.3 microM in the right heart blood and 1.7 microM in the left heart blood. Ethanol was not detected in either sample. Kerosene components were detected in each sample (blood, trachea content, gastric content and body surface). According to the formulation of kerosene components, results of contents of the trachea were most likely from a kerosene on the market. In the blood, many volatile paraffin hydrocarbons were found, and, on the body surface, many high boiling-point paraffin hydrocarbons were detected. The means that values of detected kerosene formulation from the blood and trachea contents were similar to types of kerosene on the market. From these results, we concluded that the victim inhaled kerosene vapor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Yoshida
M
M
Department of Legal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi, Japan.
Watabiki
T
T
Tokiyasu
T
T
Akane
A
A
Ishida
N
N
D002056:Burns / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007648:Kerosene / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014132:Trachea / Q000737:chemistry*
D007648:Kerosene