Abstract

LUCENA, J. et al. Fat embolism as complication of polytraumatism by suicide jumping. Cuad. med. forense [online]. 2005, n.40, pp.131-137. ISSN 1988-611X.

Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a clinical entity which consists in the occlusion of blood vessels by fat droplets. It is commonly associated to long bone fractures and it's an important source of morbidity and mortality in polytraumatized patients. Although the first descriptions were made in the nineteenth century, nowadays it continues to be an important clinical challenge determining that, sometimes, the first diagnostic is made at autopsy. In this paper, we present a case of FES in a woman 19 years old who died in hospital twelve days after jumping from a bridge suffering polytraumatism with long bone fracture. FES was suspected clinically and diagnosed in the gross autopsy being confirmed microscopically. The clinic-pathological characteristics of this syndrome are also reviewed.

Keywords : Fat embolism; long bone fractures; suicide; forensic pathology.

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