A Case of Fatal Asphyxia by a Barbell during a Bench Press

The bench press is a widespread form of weight training with few scientific reports on its associated fatalities. We herein report a case of an individual performing bench press training who was found deceased in a supine position on the bench with the shaft of the barbell resting on his neck. The bench press safety bars were set at bench height. On the basis of the postmortem computed tomography imaging and the autopsy, the cause of death was determined to be fatal traumatic asphyxia caused by a cervical compression. We wish to highlight the importance of correctly using safety devices during weight training as well as the need for developing and disseminating safe equipment that is not dependent on the manner of use. We also wish to highlight the need for a form of legal regulation on the design of devices.

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Characteristic postmortem computed tomography findings of ingestion of benzine

BJR|case reports ◽

10.1259/bjrcr.20200212 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 20200212

Author(s):

Hiroyuki Tokue ◽

Yoshihiko Kominato ◽

Rie Sano ◽

Yoichiro Takahashi ◽

Akira Hayakawa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Computed Tomography ◽

Cause Of Death ◽

Postmortem Computed Tomography ◽

Imaging Findings ◽

Computed Tomography Imaging ◽

Tomography Imaging ◽

Gastric Contents

There are some reports investigating the cause of death by examining the contents of the stomach and duodenum using postmortem computed tomography, but most of these have been based on radiopaque contents. Here, we report a case of suicide after ingesting a large amount of benzine. Although the gastric contents were radiolucent, the characteristic postmortem computed tomography imaging findings helped to determine the cause of death.

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Postmortem Computed Tomography Imaging in the Investigation of Nontraumatic Death in Infants and Children

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2013/327903 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Yukihiro Noda ◽

Ken Yoshimura ◽

Shoji Tsuji ◽

Atsushi Ohashi ◽

Hirohide Kawasaki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Computed Tomography ◽

Clinical Diagnosis ◽

Cause Of Death ◽

Concordance Rate ◽

Infants And Children ◽

Postmortem Computed Tomography ◽

Promising Technique ◽

Computed Tomography Imaging ◽

Multicenter Trials ◽

Clinical Diagnoses

Objective. To determine the accuracy of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) for the assessment of causes in nontraumatic deaths in children.Study Design. We enrolled cases of nontraumatic deaths of infants and children who underwent PMCT at a single center. The presumed cause of death determined by PMCT was prospectively compared with the clinical and pathological diagnoses of deaths.Results. Thirty-eight cases were enrolled for analysis. Among them, seven cases also underwent conventional medical autopsy. PMCT revealed an identifiable cause of death in accordance with the clinical diagnosis of death in 16 cases of the 38 cases (the concordance rate was 42%) and in accordance with the autopsy cause of death in four of the seven autopsy cases (the concordance rate was 57%). Among eight cases with unknown cause of death by clinical diagnosis, four cases (50%) were identified with cardiac tamponade as a cause of death (one case) and intracranial hemorrhage suggesting abuse (3 cases).Conclusions. PMCT seems to be a promising technique that might serve as a substitute for conventional medical autopsy and give us the complementary information to clinical diagnoses particularly in cases of child abuse. Larger multicenter trials are worthwhile to validate the general feasibility of PMCT.

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