1Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Dr D Y Patil Medical College, Pune
2Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Dr D Y Patil Medical College, Pune
3Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Dr D Y Patil Medical College, Pune
4Professor & Head, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Dr D Y Patil Medical College, Pune
5Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, SKN Medical College, Pune
*Corresponding Author: Email ID: drmadhupetkar@gmail.com
Online published on 4 December, 2018.
Sudden and unexpected death is an indication for further investigation in the form of medico-legal autopsy. The present study was a prospective study undertaken at a tertiary health care centre with the objective of studying the untimely deaths. In a series of consecutive medico-legal autopsies, 189 cases of sudden death were reported. Evaluation of these cases included complete medico-legal autopsy, including toxicological and histo-pathological examination. There was a definite influence of age and gender on sudden deaths. The frequency of intracranial pathology leading to sudden unexplained and unexpected death was determined. Of the 189 cases of sudden death, 22 (12%) were due to intracranial pathologies. Amongst these, there were 9 cases of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), 4 of cerebral edema, 3 of Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), 3 of combined SAH & ICH and 3of Meningitis. We also observed the mean survival time, which was 6 hours and 50 minutes in sudden deaths due to intracranial pathologies.
Sudden Death, Intracranial Pathology, Subarachnoid Haemorrhage, Survival Time
