A collection of cutting-edge accounts of special topics from various fields of forensic pathology and death scene investigation. The authors offer critical insight into the medicolegal investigation of bodies found in water, the forensic aspects of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection of the central nervous system, deaths in a head-down position, and forensic bitemark analysis. Additional chapters address taphonomic changes in human bodies during the early postmortem interval, arrhythmogenic ventricular dysplaisia that produces sudden death in young people, the postmortem diagnosis of death in anaphylaxis, and iatrogenici deaths. The forensic aspects of suicide, murder-suicide, and suicide trends in the United States are also discussed, along with the evaluation of fatal pulmonary thromboembolism and the use of radiology in medicolegal investigations.
Contents: Death From Environmental Conditions

Macroscopical, Microscopical, and Laboratory Findings in Drowning Victims: A Comprehensive Review
Philippe Lunetta and Jerome H. Modell

Forensic Neuropathology

HIV-1 Infection of the Central Nervous System
Andreas Büttner and Serge Weis

Forensic Pathophysiology

Death in a Head-Down Position
Achim Th. Schäfer

Forensic Odontology

Bitemarks: Presentation, Analysis, and Evidential Reliability
Jules Kieser, Geoffrey Tompkins, Donna Buckingham, Norman A. Firth and Michael Swain

Taphonomy

Postmortem Changes and Artifacts Occurring During the Early Postmortem Interval
Michael Tsokos

Macroscopical Findings on Soil-Embedded Skeletal Remains Allowing the Exclusion of a Forensically Relevant Lay Time
Marcel A. Verhoff and Kerstin Kreutz

Death From Natural Causes

Right and Left Ventricular Arrhythmogenic Dysplasia: Pathological Features and Medicolegal Significance
Wolfgang Huckenbeck and Adonios Papadomanolakis

Postmortem Diagnosis of Anaphylaxis
Erik Edston and Marianne van Hage-Hamsten

Vascular Conditions

The Medicolegal Evaluation of Fatal Pulmonary Thromboembolism
James R. Gill

Suicide

Trends of Suicide in the United States During the 20th Century
Lisa B. E. Shields, Donna M. Hunsaker, and John C. Hunsaker III

Murder Suicide: An Overview
Roger W. Byard

Iatrogenic Injury

Iatrogenic Injury: A Forensic Perspective
Gilbert Lau

Imaging Techniques in Forensic Pathology

Forensic Radiology
Tzipi Kahana and Jehuda Hiss

Index