Thyreoglobulin and violent asphyxia

The concentration of thyreoglobulin (tg) was determined for death caused by hanging, strangulation by ligature, and throttling. Cases of sudden death (traumatic aortic rupture, penetrating wounds of the heart) were used for comparison. The mean values in cases of hanging (149.9±202.3 ng/ml), strangulation by ligature (193.1±173.3), manual strangulation (561.6±173.9) are distinguishable from violent acute deaths (23.3±27.6) and living healthy individuals (17.3±16.1). By means of statistical comparisons, significant differences were found between throttling and strangulation by ligature and between throttling and hanging (adjusted P<0.001). In connection with examination of the bodies high tg values can be regarded as a vital reaction in obstructive asphyxia.     

A throttled hemophilic who died due to choking

It is the first reported case, in which death occurred due to asphyxia by choking in a victim of throttling. When an alcoholic hemophilic patient was throttled, he became unconscious. On regaining consciousness he died after approximately 16 h due to sub-mucosal collection of extravasated blood which blocked his upper respiratory tract. This paper stresses this unique danger of trauma to neck in hemophilic patients.