ARTEFACT

 Artefact is any change caused or feature introduced in

a body after death (accidental or physiologically
unrelated finding to the natural state of the body)
 It is a structure or substance, not normally present,
but, produced by some external agency or action.
ARTEFACTS INTRODUCED
BETWEEN DEATH AND
AUTOPSY
Agonal artefacts
 Regurgitation and aspiration of gastric contents. It
may be seen in natural deaths, as a terminal event.
 Oesophagogastromalacia, seen in patients (rarely)
who die within hours or days after receiving severe
head injury with cerebral damage. Occurs due to auto
digestion, when stomach contents are spilled into left
chest cavity or subphrenic area.
Resucitation artefacts
 The injection marks of resuscitation are usually found
in cardiac region or on the extremities.
 A defibrillator applied to the chest may produce ring
like contusion .
 Ribs and sternum may be fractured during massage.
 Resucitative contusion of soft tissues of neck can raise
suspicion of homicidal strangulation eg: Trying to
introduce rope into airway.
Artefacts due to handling of body
 Occasionally , fracture of ribs or bones or extremities
may occur by rough handling of body, especially in
cases where there’s severe osteoporosis. They are
commonly introduced during straightening of the
limbs during rigor mortis.
 An occipital contusion may be caused if corpse is
allowed to fall on a hard surface.
 UNDERTAKER’S FRACTURE is a sublaxation of the
lower cervical spine due to tearing of intervertebral
disc at about C6-C7
Artefacts due to rigor mortis
 Rigor may be partially broken due to handling of body,
which may lead to misleading in time of death.
 Onset and duration of rigor may may be altered by
atmospheric conditions like exteme heat or cold or
antemortem conditions like muscular diseases,
hypothermia, exhaustion or wasting diseases.
Artefacts related to Post mortem
lividity
 Color of PM stains is usually bluish purple. Certain poisons may
change the color in hypostatic area e.g cherry red color in O
poisoning, bright red color in HCN poisoning, chocolate color in
potassium chlorate, nitrite, aniline poisoning etc.
 Banding of the oesophagus maybe seen especially when the
tissues are congested. Bands are pale areas in the mucosa caused
by post mortem hypostasis being prevented from settling by
external pressure of adjacent anatomical structure.
 Large petechiae, sometimes with raised blood blisters maybe
seen in dependent skin of persons who have died a congestive
death, or when upper part of the body hangs down after death.
Face may show hemorrhages when head is dependent.
Artefacts due to burns
 An unburnt groove around the neck due to tightness
of clothes (collar) may resemble a strangulation mark.
 In severely burnt bodies, fat droplets may be found in
pulmonary vessels which must NOT be mistaken for
fat embolism.
Artefacts in firearm wounds
 In decomposition, there may be peeling of skin and
loss of hair and gunpowder from the skin around an
entrance wound. Margins of an entry wound may
become ragged due to disintegration of the tissue at
the margins, and it becomes difficult to distinguish
entry wound from exit.
 Sometimes an encapsulated bullet may be
unexpectedly in the body which may be due to an old
injury, whereas the actual cause of death may be
something else.
Artefacts due to animal and insect
bites
 Injuries caused by crabs could, rarely resemble stab
wounds.
 Rodents bites are usually circular, or wedge shaped
with finely serrated margins, showing irregular edges.
 Extensive linear ant lesions represent ligature
strangulation .
Artefacts in brain and liver
 Regional flattening of convolutions is a PM artefact.
 Rough removal of brain may cause artificial damage to
ponto medullary junction or to midbrain pons
junction.
 The undersurface of liver in contact with transverse
colon shows greenish coloration due to putrefaction.
Post mortem hemmorhage
 After death blood may collect in pleural cavity due to
wounds produced on chest wall & lung tissue .
 After death, blunt impact may lacerate blood vessels
and displace red cells into tissue spaces.
Artefacts due to hair
 Beard may appear to grow in certain cases, after death,
whereas growth of hair stops after death. The cause of
this may be shrinkage of skin, due to which greater
part of the hair shaft is exposed above the epidermis.
Artefacts due to decomposition
 Intense localized lividity of skin due to hypostasis or
displacement of internal pools of blood by pressure of
gases of decomposition produces pseudo bruises
which may simulate ante mortem bruises .
 The blood becomes darker in decomposition, due to
which brain,heart,lungs become congested which may
be mistaken for signs of asphyxia.
 Sr . No Artefact Misinterpretation

1 Blood stained froth from mouth and nose Death due to

haemmorhage

2 Post mortem blisters Antemortem blisters

due to burns or scalds

3 False groove over neck due to a tight collar Strangulation marks

4 Small round holes produced by maggots Bullet holes

5 Tanning of skin of face and neck due to regurgitated Antemortem burning

gastric juices

6 Separation of sutures of skull in a child due to gases Trauma

of decomposition in brain and protrusion of
abdomen
7 Decomposing pancreas Haemmorhagic
pancreatitis
Artefacts due to chemicals &
refrigeration
 Exposure to gasoline postmortem detachment of
epidermis. On exposure to air, the underlying dermis
has a yellow brown color, resembling thermal burns or
abrasions, after drying .
 Pink hypostasis is seen in bodies kept in cold storage .
Embalming artefacts
 The trocar wound may simulate a stab wound . Some
blood may be forced out of injured blood vessels due
to pressure and may collect in tissues and may be
mistaken due to antemortem haemmorhage.
 The trocar may also disturb the track of bullet /
weapon and produce false tracks.
 A homicidal stab wound may be enlarged by the
embalmer to approach an artery or he may pass a
trocar through a gunshot wound .
Intermittent & Exhumation
Artefacts
 In bodies which have been buried, fungus growth is
usually seen at body orifices, eyes and at the sites of
open injuries. After removal of fungus, the color of
underlying skin resembles bruising.
Toxicological artefacts
 Faulty collection and faulty preservation of samples.
 When blood is collected from heart with a long
needle, it may be contaminated with stomach contents
or regurgitated oesophageal contents.
 If blood is contaminated with pericardial or pleural
fluids, false results are obtained as regards alcohol,
because significant diffusion of alcohol occurs after
death from stomach to pleural and pericardial fluid .
ARTEFACTS INTRODUCED
DURING AUTOPSY
 AIR IN BLOOD VESSELS
Air may enter veins of neck during reflection of skin,
leading to erroneous diagnosis of air embolism.

SKULL FRACTURES
Fracture of skull may be produced due to partial sawing
and forceful pull of skull cap or due to partial sawing
and then using chisel and hammer to loosen skull cap.
This may produce additional fractures or may cause
extension of already present antemortem fractures.
Visceral Damage
 Rough handling of brain during removal may produce
tears of the midbrain .
 Rough handling of liver during removal may produce
tears of diaphragmatic surface, which may simulate
antemortem laceration .
 Neck structures may be tor during autopsy to drag out
thoracic viscera.
Extravasation of blood
 In case of suspected cranial injury, body should be
opened, and cardiovascular system decompressed by
opening the heart befor the head is opened. If blood
has not been drained from vessels of head, damage to
dura and dural venous sinuses on removal of skull cap
may lead to an escape of blood into the subdural
space, simulating an antemortem subdural
hemorrhage.
Fracture of Hyoid Bone, Injury to Blood
vessels and Toxicological artefacts.
 When the tongue and neck structures are firmly grasped
and pulled upon while removing neck organs, hyoid bones
and thyroid cartilage may be fractured, esp in old people.
 While dissecting neck structures, toothed dissecting
forceps may damage intima of carotid artery resembling a
tear in strangulation.
 Toxicological artefacts may be due to contamination of
viscera with stomach contents during autopsy or by putting
all organs in one container or by using contaminated
containers, or by faulty technique in collecting sample or
faulty storage / usage of preservatives.
THANK YOU!