Abstract

SIBON OLANO, A.; MARTINEZ-GARCIA, P.; VIZCAYA ROJAS, MA.  and  ROMERO PALANCO, JL.. Asphyxia Drowning Syndrome. Cuad. med. forense [online]. 2005, n.41, pp.229-233. ISSN 1988-611X.

The finding of a corpse in water always raise doubts for a proper diagnosis: Are we before a corpse thrown or fallen into the water? Was the death due to causes different from drowning, including naturals?. It is a true death by drowning?. The use of complementary examinations in the diagnosis of drowning has undergone diverse ups and downs. The biochemical determinations have been confronted with the artefacts related to the putrefaction which has favoured the appearance of certain very controverted methods of diagnosis. In addition, the experiments made in animals not always must be applied to the human's beings, since the absorbed amount of water by air passages seems to be much smaller for the latest's. The diagnosis of death by drowning will be made, therefore, establishing a correlation between the typical findings of the submersion observed in the autopsy and the different complementary laboratory tests.

Keywords : Drowning; asphyxia; diagnosis; forensic medicine.

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