title: Use of postmortem computed tomography to reveal an intraoral gunshot injuries in a charred body.
abstract: A 53-year-old man was found dead after a fire at his residence had been extinguished. Although a pistol was recovered beside the body, external examination was unable to indicate any gunshot wound because of severe charring of the body. Postmortem computed tomography (CT) scan performed prior to autopsy suggested an entrance gunshot wound in the posterior pharynx with loss of soft tissue and an internal bullet path through the right anterior and posterior parts of the occipital bone. Autopsy revealed an entrance gunshot wound with hemorrhage in the soft tissue of the posterior pharynx, massive contusion of the right occipital lobe, and subarachnoid hemorrhage in the right temporal lobe, both occipital lobes and the superior surface of the left cerebellar hemisphere, thus being consistent with the findings of postmortem CT. A carboxyhemoglobin concentration of 5% in blood from the cadaver was consistent with the lack of soot deposition from the larynx to the bronchus. These observations confirmed that death had been caused by an intraoral gunshot resulting in severe brain damage, before the body had been burned.
authors: Department of Legal Medicine, Gunma University, Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
authors: Rie
authors: R
authors: Sano
authors: Satoshi
authors: S
authors: Hirawasa
authors: Susumu
authors: S
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Takehiro
authors: T
authors: Shimada
authors: Sachiko
authors: S
authors: Awata
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Takei
authors: Hidenori
authors: H
authors: Otake
authors: Keiko
authors: K
authors: Takahashi
authors: Youichiro
authors: Y
authors: Takahashi
authors: Yoshihiko
authors: Y
authors: Kominato
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D002056:Burns; D002102:Cadaver; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000293:injuries*; D011859:Radiography; D015898:Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000175:diagnosis*