Effect of Time Since Death on Morphological Changes of Red and White Blood Cells-An Autopsy based Study at S.M.S. Medical College & Attached Group of Hospitals, Jaipur During the Year 2016–2017

Abstract

The proper estimation of time since death sometimes gives important hints for solving the crime to the investigating agencies and punishing the true offender and proper administration of justice. Numerous cells in blood show varying degree of post-mortem changes and these changes vary with regards to the post-mortem interval. Therefore, this hospital based descriptive observational study were carried out at the Department of Forensic Medicine, SMS Medical College, Jaipur to study the estimation of time since death by morphological changes in red & white blood cells. The present study proposes that lymphocytes are the most resistant blood cells as regards to degeneration after death. Other white blood cells and also red blood cells also show certain pattern of degradation which can be correlated to the time passed since death. Although a single cell change viewed in isolation may not do wonders in framing opinion of time elapsed since death but a study of morphological appearance of various cells at the time of examination may lead to meaningful inferences. Thus we concluded that the present study proves that changes in the morphology of red blood cells & white blood cells can be helpful as supplementary procedure for estimating time since death.