1Assistant Professor, Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Kanchipuram
2Assistant Professor, Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Kanchipuram
3Professor, Dept.of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad
4Associate Professor, Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Kanchipuram
5Prof. & Head, Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Kanchipuram
Remarkable physical change occurring in a corpse is directly related to the temperature gradient between the body and the surrounding environment. An attempt has been made by the authors to study the basic cooling pattern of human corpse during winter season (Oct 2013 to Jan 2014) of a tropical country like India. The present study includes the effect of various extrinsic and intrinsic factors on the rate of cooling and making derivative conclusions there upon.
The process of cooling was retarded in earlier stages, signifying the occurrence of temperature plateau, followed by a pattern explained by double exponential sigmoid curve. The initial rate of cooling in most of the cases was 0.5ºC/hour, rising to 1ºC/hour during the period of maximum cooling. The average rate of cooling/hour was estimated as 0.5ºC. It has been observed that age groups & sex of the studied corpses have no influence upon the rate of cooling. The intrinsic factors like size of the body, body fats, etc. influenced the rate of cooling such that it was more in thin built subjects, average in moderately built ones and less in obese persons.
The original body temperature at the time of death decides the rate of cooling/hour in all cases.
Core Temperature, Temperature plateau, Conduction, Convection, Radiation
