title: Fatal heat stroke in a child entrapped in a confined space.
abstract: We report the case of a child succumbing to heatstroke caused by confinement in an icebox. The post mortem examination found cyanosis and hematomas indicating that the child had tried to get out of the container. The temperature of the body was higher than it should have been considering the rigor and delay before post mortem examination. The autopsy showed no significant injury and toxicological tests were negative. A physiological study etablished that death resulted from heatstroke, not a lack of oxygen or CO2 poisoning. We conclude that heat stroke should be considered as a possible mechanism of death even in the absence of context of environmental hyperthermia. We recommend that in these situations involving confinement, establishing the mechanism of death should be done not only on the basis of a detailed post-mortem examination to rule out other causes of death, but also based on complete physiological investigations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Médecine Légale et d'Anthropologie médico-légale, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Faculté de Médecine, 28 Avenue de Valombrose, 06107 Nice Cedex 2, France. Electronic address: alunni.v@chu-nice.fr.
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Alunni
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physiologie, Faculte de Medecine, Universite Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France. Electronic address: CRENESSE.D@pediatrie-chulenval-nice.fr.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crenesse
authors.forename: Marie-Dominique
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Piercecchi-Marti
authors.affiliation: Université d'Aix Marseille, Service de Médecine Légale et Droit de la Santé, CHU Timone, 13005 Marseille, France. Electronic address: mpiercecchi@ap-hm.fr.
authors.forename: Marie-Dominique
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Pierccechi-Marti
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Toxicology LAT LUMTOX, 800 Avenue Marie Curie, La Voulte sur Rhône, France. Electronic address: y.gaillard@latlumtox.com.
authors.forename: Yvan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Médecine Légale et d'Anthropologie médico-légale, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Faculté de Médecine, 28 Avenue de Valombrose, 06107 Nice Cedex 2, France. Electronic address: quatrehomme.g@chu-nice.fr.
authors.forename: Gérald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Quatrehomme
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D020378:Confined Spaces; D003490:Cyanosis / Q000473:pathology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D018883:Heat Stroke / Q000209:etiology*; D006406:Hematoma / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
keywords: Child; Confinement; Death; Forensic science; Heat stroke; Physiological study