Postmortem Analysis of Electrogram Records from an Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillator ( ICD ) in the Reconstruction of a Road Traffic Accident

• Kaliszan, Michał ^[1] ; Daniłowicz‐Szymanowicz, Ludmiła ^[1] ; Kempa, Maciej ^[1] ; Tomczak, Ewa ^[1] ; Krzyżanowska, Marta ^[1] ; Jankowski, Zbigniew ^[1] ; Raczak, Grzegorz ^[1]
  1. [1] Gdańsk Medical University

     Gdańsk Medical University

     Gdańsk, Polonia

     
• Localización: Journal of forensic sciences, ISSN-e 1556-4029, ISSN 0022-1198, Vol. 64, Nº. 5, 2019, págs. 1551-1554
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The case of a 69-year-old man, equipped with an ICD and suffering from several chronic cardiac diseases, who died in a caraccident, was presented. We analyzed electrogram records from the ICD explanted from the body during the autopsy, which showed that thedriver had suffered from malignant ventricular arrhythmia—ventricular fibrillation (VF). A thorough analysis of the details of the accident, aswell as the timing of VF and the rhythm observed after the discharge of the ICD showed that the direct cause of the accident was the episodeof arrhythmia resulting in a loss of consciousness. Therefore, the presented case illustrates the usefulness of postmortem analysis of electrogramrecords from ICDs in the reconstruction of road traffic accidents. In such cases, if the victims are implanted with ICDs, it should be a routineprocedure performed by forensic pathologists.