Comparative Analysis of Drowning Index: Relevance in Drowning Deaths versus Non-Drowning Asphyxial Deaths
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/nxpcdq54Keywords:
Drowning, drowning index, autopsy, dataAbstract
Drowning remains a significant cause of mortality worldwide, necessitating accurate diagnostic tools for forensic investigation. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the Drowning Index (DI) to ascertain its relevance in distinguishing drowning deaths from non-drowning asphyxial deaths. Drowning deaths present a challenge for forensic pathologists, because the autopsy findings may occur in many non-drowning scenarios. Previous studies have attempted to identify patterns in organ weights that may be specific for drowning. The drowning index has been defined as the weight ratio of the lungs and pleural effusion fluid to the spleen. We compared the lung and pleural effusion weight, spleen weight, and DI from 124 autopsies of asphyxia deaths including both drowning deaths and non-drowning asphyxia deaths such as hanging, strangulation, suffocation and mechanical asphyxia at the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at the Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal from January 2021 to August 2022. Findings highlight the potential utility of the DI as a valuable adjunctive tool in forensic investigations, providing insights into its comparative efficacy in differentiating drowning from other modes of asphyxial deaths. Such insights are critical for enhancing accuracy in forensic diagnoses and contributing to advancements in medicolegal death investigations.
References
Dr.C.K.Parikh:Medicolegal Post mortem in India-Guidelines for crime investigation: 1st edition: 1985: 67-73.
Morris NK, Du Toit-Prinsloo L, Saayman G (2016) Drowning in Pretoria, South Africa: a 10-year review. J Forensic Legal Med 37: 66–70.
WHO (2014) Global report on drowning. World Health Organization, Geneva.
Saberi Anary SH, Sheikhazadi A, Ghadyani MH (2010) Epidemiology of drowning in Mazandaran Province, North of Iran. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 31:236–242.
Meddings D, Hyder AA, Ozanne-Smith J, Rahman A, eds. Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a Leading Killer. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2014.
Meddings D, Hyder AA, Ozanne-Smith J, Rahman A, eds. Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a Leading Killer. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2014. World Health Organization. Fact sheet on drowning.
Nishitani Y, Fujii K, Okazaki S, Imabayashi K, Matsumoto H. Weight ratio of the lungs and pleural effusion to the spleen in the diagnosis of drowning. Legal Med 2006; 8:22–7.
Hadley JA, Fowler DR.Organ weight effects of drowning and asphyxiation on the lungs, liver, brain, heart, kidneys, and spleen Forensic Sci Int. 2003 Nov 26;137(2-3):239-46.
Tomoko Sugimura, Masayuki Kashiwagi, Aya Matsusue, Kenji Hara, MitsuyoshiKageura, Shin-ichi KuboLeg Med (Tokyo) Application of the drowning index to actual drowning cases. 2010 Mar;12(2):68-72.
H T Haffner , M Graw, J Erdelkamp et al. spleen findings in drowning Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany. Forensic Science International, 01 Jun 1994, 66(2):95-104.
Khalil S. WardakM.D.Robert M. Buchsbaum M.D., J.D FrozanWalyzada . The Drowning Index: Implementation in Drowning, Mechanical Asphyxia, and Acute Myocardial Infarct Cases” Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume 59, Issue 2 First published: 15 February 2014. 399-403.
RexsonTse, Jack Garland, KilakKesha,et al The Potential Diagnostic Accuracy of Autopsy Lung Weights, Lung-Heart Ratio, and Lung- Body Ratio in Drowning Deaths. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 2018: 39( 3); 223-228.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Rajesh Kumar Dhakar, Rajendra Baraw, Mrityunjay Singh Tomar, Saagar Singh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en