Premium
Testing an Age‐old Adage: Can Autopsy Findings be of Assistance in Differentiating Opioid Versus Cardiac Deaths?
Author(s) -
Molina D. Kimberley,
Vance Kathryn,
Coleman Maci L.,
Hargrove Veronica M.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1111/1556-4029.14174
Subject(s) - medicine , autopsy , opioid , concomitant , pulmonary edema , cause of death , population , cardiology , disease , anesthesia , lung , receptor , environmental health
Given the common occurrence of both opioid and cardiovascular deaths, and the concomitant use of opioids in those with cardiac disease, the present study was undertaken to see whether the old adage of using the triad of cerebral and pulmonary edema and bladder fullness to suggest an opioid death could be used to differentiate deaths due to opioid toxicity from deaths due to cardiac disease. Brain weight, lung weight, and bladder fullness were compared among opioid‐related deaths, cardiac deaths, and a control population. It was found that opioid‐related deaths were more likely to have heavy lungs, a heavy brain, and a full bladder, while cardiac‐related deaths had smaller volumes of urine in the bladder and heavier hearts. In conjunction with a thorough investigation, these findings may be useful to forensic pathologists when determining whether a death is opioid‐related, especially in the setting of concomitant cardiac disease.