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Pseudo‐Stab Wounds: Putrefactive Dehiscence of Remote Surgical Incisions Masquerading as Stab Wounds
Author(s) -
Gill James R.,
Cavalli Dennis P.,
Ely Susan F.
Publication year - 2009
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/j.1556-4029.2009.01121.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dehiscence , surgery , stab , autopsy , stab wound , forensic pathology , colon resection , colorectal cancer , pathology , cancer , colectomy
Artifacts due to decomposition can be mistaken for antemortem injury leading to an incorrect suspicion of foul play. We describe an instance of postmortem wound dehiscence that mimicked antemortem stab wounds. A man with a history of colon cancer and substance abuse was found dead. There were advanced putrefactive changes and multiple defects of the anterior torso that resembled stab wounds. Subsequent investigation revealed that 11 months earlier, he had a laparoscopic‐assisted colon resection that involved surgical incisions corresponding in location and size to the above defects. Putrefactive gases may cause bloating of the body. This distension may cause recent and remote healed incisions to dehisce. Correlation of these “defects” at autopsy with the antemortem clinical history is crucial in determining their etiology.