Pathology of acute poisoning: an autopsy study of 28 cases / 中华急诊医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of pathological examination in the diag-nosis of lethal cases due to acute poisoning.Methods The macroscopic and microscopic find-ings in 28 autopsy cases (10 cases of toxic gas,7 cases of pesticide,6 cases of drug,3 cases of alcohol and 2 cases of chinese herbal medicine) died of acute poisoning during the period from October,2001 to June,2012 were retrospectively reviewed.Results Gross Changes were found on gross examination in 22 of the 28 cases studied.Of them,7 cases died of acute carbon mono-xide poisoning had showed cherry red of Shiban,muscle,visceral organs and blood.In addition,11 and 8 cases had been found gastric mucosa hemorrhage and epicardium petechial hemorrhage respectively.Histologically,myocardial interstitial hemorrhage was observed in 9 cases,pulmonary hemorrhage in 18 cases,bronchospasm in 12 cases,cerebral hemorrhage in 4 cases,hepato-cyte necrosis in 11 cases,renal tubular necrosis in 7 cases and gastric mucosa hemorrhage in 11 cases.In 6 cases of oral pesticides poisoning,besides they had all gastric mucosa hemorrhage,the change of character of gastric contents was found in 3 cases and pesticide odor from stomach in 3 cases.In addition,acute inflammatory and necrosis of gastric wall in 6 cases of oral pesticides poisoning were observed under the light microscope.Drug addicts often suffered from chronic lesions in multiple organs,such as chronic liver disease,fatty infiltration of the myocardium with myocardial atrophy,interstitial lung disease and pulmonary foreign body granuloma.Conclusions Pathology examination is helpful in the diagnosis of some lethal cases due to acute ooisoning,and it can provide pathological basis to study on treatment of acute poisoning.