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Trigemino‐Cardiac Reflex as Lethal Mechanism in a Suicidal Fire Death Case
Author(s) -
Rossi Riccardo,
Lodise Maria,
Lancia Massimo,
Bacci Mauro,
DeGiorgio Fabio,
Cascini Fidelia
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12408
Subject(s) - reflex , medicine , anesthesia , mechanism (biology) , poison control , shock (circulatory) , intensive care medicine , medical emergency , philosophy , epistemology
In the vast majority of immediate fire deaths, the mechanism of death is inhalation of toxic gases (especially carbon monoxide), direct thermal injury, or neurogenic shock due to the redistribution of the body's blood volume produced by surface heat on the skin. We present a suicidal case that is unusual because the mechanism of immediate fire death could arguably be explained in terms of a primitive autonomic reflex/the trigemino‐cardiac reflex. Although this reflex is well known to surgeons and anesthetists, with possible lethal consequences in the course of invasive surgical procedures on the head and neck region, it is much less familiar to forensic pathologists.