Algor Mortis: An Erroneous Measurement Following Postmortem Refrigeration

• NCJ Number: 236194
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 56 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2011 Pages: 1219-1221
• Author(s): Khalil S. Wardak, M.D.; Stephen J. Cina, M.D.
• Date Published: September 2011
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the National Association of Medical Examiners Annual Meeting, September 5–10, 2008, in Louisville, KY.

Annotation

Determination of the time of death is one goal of medicolegal death investigations. Algor mortis has been used as a measure of the postmortem interval (PMI). The authors prospectively recorded the core temperatures of 19 adult bodies entering the morgue cooler and at 3, 6, and 9 h of refrigeration.

Abstract

The study then compared the cooling rate with the calculated body mass index (BMI). For each individual body, the rate of cooling was fairly linear with no evidence of a plateau. There was fair to moderate correlation between the BMI and the cooling rate: cooling rate = -0.052 (BMI) + 3.52. The probability of linearity in any given case was 36 percent. Variables affecting this correlation included the presence and the layers of clothing and if the clothing was wet. The data confirm that algor mortis is of very limited utility in determining the PMI in bodies that have been refrigerated. (Published Abstract)