Post mortem investigation of alveolar air in forensic practice

Summary

Exhaled air from biological materials is used for the purpose of toxicologico-chemical analysis particularly in detecting of alcohol influence in traffic or within a working process. Similarly, still a more and more actual requirement seems to be a necessity to analyse alveolar air from necroptic material. This necessity is emphasised not only by the fact, that inhalant intoxications in the form of poisoning represent their substantial part, but also a demand to evidence exactly a noxious agent both specifically and also in at least two materials. And particularly this is sometimes a subject to search for evidence in alveolar air. The authors present their author’s certificates for Isolation of alveolar air from autopsy material, issued by the Office for Patents and Inventions in Prague, verified in practice, both by destruction of lung tissue, both the evacuation of alveolar air into a defined volume, hermetically closed space that is used for the toxicological analysis of gaseous and volatile xenobiotics. They propose experimentally verified procedures and conditions obtained by time-consuming examination. To isolation procedures were subjected an adequate number of lung lobes from lungs removed in 201 autopsy cases. The authors practically tested the presupposed amount of alveolar air in individuals according to gender and age. Gradually they have validated various prototypes and optimization methods and their application in solving particular inhaled lethal intoxications and deaths in the irrespirable environment.

Keywords:
autopsy material – alveolar air – the evacuation of the alveolar air – lung destruction – toxicological analysis