TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - The Drowning Index: implementation in drowning, mechanical asphyxia, and acute myocardial infarct cases
JO  - Journal of forensic sciences
A1  - Wardak, Khalil S.
A1  - Buchsbaum, Robert M.
A1  - Walyzada, Frozan
SP  - 399
EP  - 403
VL  - 59
IS  - 2
N2  - Drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion based on circumstantial and autopsy correlation. Sugimura proposed a threshold value of 14.1 for the Drowning Index (DI), the ratio of lung and pleural fluid to spleen weight, as a surrogate marker to diagnose drowning. We questioned the use of DI in diagnosing drowning. We compared DI between three groups-drowning, mechanical asphyxia, and myocardial infarct-seen at Broward MEO from 2008 to 2009. Only 9.4% of 53 drownings exceeded the DI threshold of 14.1, while 30% of 10 mechanical asphyxias and 40% of 10 myocardial infarcts had DI >14.1. Sensitivity for the DI test was <10% and specificity 60-70%. Median DI values for all groups were <10. Mann-Whitney U-test was not statistically significant between groups. The DI is neither sensitive nor specific and lacks any utility in the diagnosis of drowning.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0022-1198
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12356
ID  - ref1
ER  -