Investigation of the skin lesions in lightning strike death.
Accidental death
Forensic pathology
Lichtenberg figures
Lightning injuries
Journal
Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan)
ISSN: 1873-4162
Titre abrégé: Leg Med (Tokyo)
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 100889186
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Sep 2021
Sep 2021
Historique:
received:
25
09
2020
revised:
06
04
2021
accepted:
15
04
2021
pubmed:
9
5
2021
medline:
6
11
2021
entrez:
8
5
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Lightning strike-related deaths are unusual, and the victim bodies can present different lesions due to the different injury mechanisms associated with this event. Since the post mortem assessment can be challenging, the evaluation of the characteristics of the skin lesions becomes fundamental to reconstruct the event. Due to the paucity of literature on this topic, the authors report the case of a 59-year-old man found dead near his home after a thunderstorm. Initially considered a murder by gunshot, the autopsy revealed the typical lightning strike lesions, also known as Lichtenberg figures. The adequate interpretation of the autopsy data and the histological evidences allowed to reconstruct the death dynamic and to relate it to a lightning strike. The main lesions due to lightening are here reported and discussed in order to provide a workflow for the identification of lightening as cause of death in unwitnessed cases.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33964680
pii: S1344-6223(21)00060-2
doi: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2021.101896
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Case Reports
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
101896Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.