Determination of cause of death in decomposed bodies–A regional study

Once we die, the tissues have to reach the food chain, which is brought by various processes. But this can cause misinterpretation of ante mortem findings. In order to assess the extent of these changes, its effect on injuries, assessment of cause of death in such cases, the extent of certainty etc one year study was conducted at Thrissur Government Medical College during the year 2007. All decomposed bodies were included in this study. Males were more with a ratio 5.13:1. Maximum incidence was in the age group of 31 to 50 years; with mean age 38.46 years ±14.2361 years. The age ranged from newborn to 92 years in male and 75 years in female. All were found dead cases and majority recovered from water. On Postmortem opinion was arrived at in 101 cases and not in 40 cases. A taught standard rule of thumb does not hold true as postmortem changes are influenced by various variables. Despite technical difficulties in handling the decomposed the autopsy was still a useful diagnostic exercise to find out both the cause and manner of death.