•  
  •  
 
Chulalongkorn Medical Journal

Abstract

Objective : To determine the relationship between the pupil sizes and the post- mortem intervals in order to estimate the time of death. Setting : Chulalongkorn Forensics Center, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University Research design : Prospective descriptive study Materials and Methods : The pupil sizes of the bodies are measured by using pupil gauge with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 millimeters scale. Results : Pupils of 171 bodies (141 males and 30 females) with age ranging from 20 to 70 years old are measured by using pupil gauge in particular post-mortem intervals. The average pupil size at the time of death of less than 2 hours, 2 to 4 hours, 4 to 8 hours, 8 to 12 hours and 12 to 24 hours are 4.8, 5.6, 4.8, 4.3 and 4.0 millimeters, respectively. A statistically significant (p < 0.05) between pupil sizes at variant post-mortem intervals are observed, except the pupil size in the time of death that was less than 2 hours and 4 to 8 hours. Conclusions : The estimation of post-mortem intervals by measurement of the pupil diameters can be done easily at the crime scene, it takes low cost and does not disturb the body. A combination of these methods with examinations of rigor mortis and livor mortis will help the physicians estimate the time of death more precisely.

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.CMJ.55.1.8

First Page

77

Last Page

87

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.