algor mortis or cooling of body after death THANATOLOGY

Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to:
 Define Algor mortis and state its medico-legal
importance.
 Briefly explain the method to measure the
temperature of body after death.
 Enlist various factors affecting Algor Mortis.
 Briefly describe Postmortem caloricity.
 Define Sudden Death and its causes.

(Algor = coldness; Mortis = death)
When life ends, after a short period, the body starts
losing heat.
The usual temperature of a healthy adult is 98.4˚F
when alive and taken by mouth, rectal temp. is 99˚F
and axillary is 97˚F.
A low body temperature is a sign of either death or
hypothermia. Temperature of dead body is measured
by thanatometer. It is 25cm long and range from 0-
50°C. It is inserted in the rectum for 2-3 min.

 In cold or temperate regions, where the difference
between the body temperature at the time of death
and environmental temperature is reasonable,
hourly recording of temperature is more valuable.
 In tropical regions, where the difference between
the body temp. and that of environment is not
much, the estimation of time since death by
recording temperature is not of much value.

In the early hours after death body cooling may give
some useful information approximating the time of
death. The Rule of Thumb most commonly applied is
that the body cools 1½°F per hour. Based upon
deep rectal or liver temperature of 99.6°F in the
living individual, a rectal temperature of 95°F would
indicate three hours postmortem interval.

In my experience, this is approximately correct in
only about 50% of cases. Detailed studies of the
cooling phenomenon indicate that during the first
hour little cooling occurs.

Relative humidity also influences the rate of
body cooling since it controls the rate of
evaporation of moisture on the body surface.
Wind and low humidity tend to increase the
evaporation of water, cooling the body more
rapidly.

 Another factor making interpretations of
postmortem temperature difficult is the lack of
information regarding the temperature of the body
at the time of death. Thus in persons dying of
pneumonia where the temperature may be as high
as 105°F or in heat stroke where it may reach
110°F, measurement of postmortem temperature is
of little significance.

 Manner of death: In chronic and wasting
diseases, cooling is rapid and in sudden
deaths, cooling is delayed.

Formula to asses time since death
99 – Rectal temperature
Time since death = = Hours since death.
1.5 F(average rate of fall of temp/ hr)
* Normal body temp = 99 ºF

 Temperature of the body at the time of death.
 If the Temperature difference between the body
and the surroundings is more, body cool rapidly.
 Clothing and covering of the body is bad conductor
of heat.
 The body-built (the surface area exposed)body of
children and lean bodies cool rapidly.

 Air current and humidity, if low humidity, more
cooling.
 Post Mortem caloricity.
 The state of Nutrition, fatty bodies cool slowly as fat
is bad conductor of heat.
 The amount of wind is more, rapid cooling.
 The contact of the body with cold or hot objects or if
immersed in cold water or wet from rain, rapid
cooling in cold water, delayed cooling in hot
water/air.

 It is a condition in which there is rise of body
temperature after death instead of cooling.
 Conditions responsible are,
 Asphyxial deaths
 Poisoning due to alcohol, Dhatura,
strychnine/great increase in heat production in
muscles due to convulsions.

 Drug reactions
 Heat stroke/pontine hemorrhage, in these
mechanism of heat regulation is already
disturbed.
 Brain-stem hemorrhage
 Deaths due to infectious diseases as lobar
pneumonia, typhoid fever, encephlitis due to
increased bacterial and viral activity.

One can assess the time since death from body cooling.
Postmortem Caloricity:
It means the rise of temperature, during the first two
hours or so after deaths from cholera, meningitis, tetanus
and strychnine poisoning. This is due to action of micro-
organisms in the still living fluids and tissues of body and
resulting chemical changes as postmortem
glycogenolysis.

 “A sudden death is someone who dies within 2
hours of symptoms appearing”.
 Unexpected Death/sudden death.
 Death is said to be sudden when a person not
known to have been suffering from any dangerous
disease, injury or poisoning and is found dead or
die within two hours of onset of terminal illness.

May die within seconds to minutes of onset of
symptoms.
Natural death means the death was entirely by
the disease, and the trauma or poison did not
play any part in it.

 CVS 45-50 %
 Respiration 10-15 %
 CNS 10-18%
 GIT 6-8%
 Other 5-10%

 Valvular heart disease
 CAD (Coronary Artery Disease)
 Hypertension
 Coronary embolism
 Acute endocarditis
 Myocarditis
 Congenital heart diseases
 Cardiomyopathies

 Pneumonia
 Bronchitis
 Pulmonary Tuberculosis
 Impaction of foreign bodies in larynx
 Pulmonary embolism
 Lung abscess
 Pneumothorax

 Cerebral hemorrhage
 Cerebellar hemorrhage
 Tumors
 Brain abscess
 Meningitis
 Epilepsy

 Bleeding from gastric and duodenal ulcers
 Appendicitis
 Perforation of peptic ulcer
 Rupture of spleen
 Acute pancreatitis

 Hyperthyroidism
 Mismatched Blood Transfusion
 Cerebral malaria
 Anaphylactic reaction
 Shock
 Ectopic pregnancy
 Nephritis
 Tuberculosis kidney
 Eclampsia

algor mortis or cooling of body after death THANATOLOGY

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