title: Sudden death of an alcoholic elderly man with acute esophageal necrosis (black esophagus).
abstract: We report a fatal case of acute esophageal necrosis (black esophagus) in an elderly male with alcohol abuse who was found dead with coffee-ground vomiting. A postmortem examination revealed severe anemia and marked black coloring of the esophagus from the upper to the bottom end. This was accompanied by histologic evidence of extensive mucosal necrosis. Alcohol abuse and esophagitis-related vomiting were both considered to be factors that led to the acute fatal esophageal necrosis. The cause of death was undetermined. We discuss the possible role of acute esophageal necrosis in the cause of sudden death.
authors.affiliation: Section of Forensic Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan. unumlegm@tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kana
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Unuma
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Funakoshi
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uemura
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications; D001344:Autopsy; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D004941:Esophagitis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009336:Necrosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology