Progressive gas formation in a deceased person during mortuary storage demonstrated on computed tomography

Abstract

We report the case of an 82-year-old woman with a past history of diabetes mellitus who died following blunt head injury sustained in a fall resulting in an acute subdural hematoma. Serial postmortem CT scans of the chest and abdomen performed over a 3-day period demonstrated progressive intra-hepatic and intra-cardiac gas formation whilst the deceased was stored in a standard mortuary refrigerator at a nominated temperature of 4 degrees C. Measured mortuary refrigerator temperatures over a 7 day period showed statistically significant day to day variability in temperatures above 4 degrees C as well as variations in temperature depending on location within the refrigerator space. In the absence of other known factors associated with such gas formation, putrefaction seems the likely cause despite a lack of obvious external features. This phenomenon must therefore be taken into account when interpreting the presence of visceral gas on postmortem CT and relating such gas to the cause of death.