Fatal formalin poisoning - a case report on forensic histopathology

AUTHOR(s) : Das Abhishek, Ejaz Ambreen, Das Nandini, Sukul Biswajit
DOI No. : 10.31741/ijhrmlp.v6.i1.2020.15

ABSTRACT :
Formalin poisoning, mostly accidental, if not suicidal, is relatively common in those areas where the chemical is used or easily available like textile factory, rubber factory, printing etc. Strong irritation and offensive, pungent odour contributes to its rarity. Formalin poisoning affects all the systems as it is easily absorbed through respiratory and gastrointestinal tract and spreads in whole body through blood causing constriction in chest, palpitation, pain abdomen and gastrointestinal irritation, urinary abnormality, liver damage and clotting factors abnormality. This type of poisoning is rare and unusual. It’s associated with high mortality rate, so proper elicitation of history, identification of the offending material and postmortem histopathology are essential. A 68 year old male was admitted with history of formalin poisoning after 7 hours and expired 40 mins post admission. Evident findings were prominent on autopsy followed by histopathology. The present investigation is an attempt to highlight the clinical picture along with autopsy histopathology in details of formalin poisoning. Such studies are essential in developing appropriate preventive strategies.

Keywords: Submucosal petechial haemorrhages; acute tubular necrosis, steatosis; autopsy histopathology.

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