Riaz Qadeer, Anwar-ul Haq, Rizwan-ul Haq.
Autopsy of a Putrefied Body (An autopsy based study).
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;14(4):157-60.

Background: Autopsy of a putrefied body pose a lot of problems in finding out the cause of death, mode of death, manner of death, time since death, personal identification and any crime associated with the death. Study Design: This descriptive study is based on autopsy record and provides information regarding problems faced in autopsy of a putrefied body. Duration of Study: From 1st January 2013 to 23rd May 2013. Methodology: This study was conducted in the department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. Data was collected from the record of autopsies performed from January 2013 to May 2013. It include all cases referred from urban as well as from rural area police stations of Peshawar district. Results: Out of total 400 autopsies 13 postmortem (3%) were done on putrefied dead bodies. Conclusion: It is very difficult to spend some time with a putrefied body to perform autopsy because of offensive smell so detailed study of the dead is done only by a dedicated and God fearing doctor and even then it is difficult to find out the cause of death, mode of death, manner of death, time since death or any associated crime with the death and most of the time personal identification is difficult even by the close relatives.

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