1Am j Forensic Med Pathol 2002; 25:20–22
An experimental autopsy study was performed on 64 cases (55 male, 9 female: average age 51.5 ± 16.2 years) of sudden natural (38 cases) and asphyxic death (26 cases). The study objective was the amount of postmortem bleeding from postmortem cutting of the thoracic aorta, related to the time since death. The amount of postmortem bleeding ranged from 100 to 1,300 cm3, 440.6 to 268.1 cm3 on average. The time since death up to the autopsy time ranged from 4 to 72 hours, 19.4 ± 12.9 in average. A statistically significant correlation between the amount of postmortem bleeding and postmortem time interval was stated: Person correlation test value r = -0.461 (P=0.000): the sorter the time interval, the larger the amount of bleeding. The formula of linear regression was estimated according to this correlation: amount of postmortem bleeding (cm3) = - 9.571 × time since death (h) + 626.659. This proves that the amount of postmortem bleeding (e.g., from aortic blunt rupture) could be about 620 cm3.
