Postmortem Diagnosis of Diabetic Ketoacidosis: An Autopsy Case.

Park, Jong Pil; Kang, Hyun Moo; Won, Yu Jin; Chung, Ik Jo; Lee, Bong Woo

doi:2016.40.1.19

Korean J Leg Med > Volume 40(1); 2016 > Article

Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2016;40(1):19-22.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2016.40.1.19 Published online February 29, 2016.

Postmortem Diagnosis of Diabetic Ketoacidosis: An Autopsy Case.

Jong Pil Park, Hyun Moo Kang, Yu Jin Won, Ik Jo Chung, Bong Woo Lee

¹Medical Examiner's Office, National Forensic Service, Wonju, Korea. forensic@korea.kr
²Forensic Medicine Division, National Forensic Service Daejeon Institute, Daejeon, Korea.

Abstract

Diabetic ketoacidosis is an acute complication of type 1 diabetes mellitus, which is observed frequently in routine autopsies. However, there are limitations of postmortem diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis. Clinical diagnostic criteria of the disease are not applicable to postmortem diagnosis because of the postmortem changes of the body; hence, diagnostic morphological changes cannot be observed. We report the case of a 47-year-old man that was diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis via routine autopsy and laboratory tests without information regarding his medical history. Additionally, we present a brief literature review.

Key Words: Diagnosis, Diabetic ketoacidosis, Autopsy