A study of the histopathological changes in heart in electrocution deaths

Dr Shubha H V,Dr Nirmala C

doi:10.17511/jopm.2018.i03.01

Abstract

Introduction: One of the biggest challenges faced by forensic pathologists is death due to electrocution. In almost half of all cases no gross pathological findings can be seen. The history surrounding the cause of death and circumstantial evidence is sometimes ambiguous and possesses great difficulty. Aim: To study the various histopathological changes in heart in electrocution. Methods and materials: In the present study, a total of 15 heart specimens in electrocution deaths and 15 normal heart specimens are considered during the study period of one year from 2015 to 2016. Case details are obtained from the records and analyzed. The histopathological findings are recorded in a proforma. Results: Myofibre break-up, separation of sarcomeres and extravasation of RBCs are found in all the 15 cases of electrocution (100%). The other findings are disarray of the myofibres (87%), hyper contracted myocyte with squaring of nuclei (73%), myocellular segmentation (33%) and myocyte vacuolization (20%). Conclusion: The histopathological changes in heart definitely provide an additional clue in the diagnosis of electrocution deaths. Most of the histopathological changes in heart are found consistently in electrocution cases compared to that of the normal hearts. Hence, their presence can be relied upon in the diagnosis of electrocution deaths and in reducing the number of negative autopsies.

Highlights

One of the biggest challenges faced by forensic pathologists is death due to electrocution
The microscopic examination of the heart sections in cases of electrocution deaths revealed the following spectrum of histopathological changes: Myofibre break-up (100%) (Figure 1), separation of the myofibres (100%), haemorrhage with extravasation of RBCs (100%) (Figure 2), disarray of the myofibres (87%), hyper contracted myocyte with squaring of nuclei (73%) (Figure 3), myocellular segmentation (33%) and myocyte vacuolization (20%) (Figure 4)
The normal heart sections showed only few similar histopathological findings such as myofibre break-up (33%) and separation of the myofibres (20%) which were not accompanied by haemorrhage with extravasation of RBCs.These findings were found only focally in the sections

Summary

Introduction

One of the biggest challenges faced by forensic pathologists is death due to electrocution. Most of the histopathological changes in heart are found consistently in electrocution cases compared to that of the normal hearts. Their presence can be relied upon in the diagnosis of electrocution deaths and in reducing the number of negative autopsies. Even the history surrounding the cause of death and the circumstantial evidence is sometimes ambiguous and possesses great difficulty to the forensic pathologists. They might have to rely entirely on the histopathological findings of internal organs to conclude the cause of death [2]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion