Forensic Consideration of Pulmonary Thromboembolism Developed After Prolonged Gambling at Casino: An Autopsy Case Report.

Kim, Dae Joong; Kim, Young Joo; Kim, Dae Yeol; Cho, Sung Jin; Eom, Minseob; Choi, Young Shik

Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2007;31(1):82-84.
Published online May 31, 2007.

Forensic Consideration of Pulmonary Thromboembolism Developed After Prolonged Gambling at Casino: An Autopsy Case Report.

Dae Joong Kim, Young Joo Kim, Dae Yeol Kim, Sung Jin Cho, Minseob Eom, Young Shik Choi

¹Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chunchon, Korea. camackim@cc.kangwon.ac.kr
²Department of Forensic Medicine, Eastern District Office, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Wonju, Korea.

Abstract

A pulmonary thromboembolism usually results from deep vein thrombosis as a serious and fatal complication. It is well known that several risk factors are predisposed to these thrombotic events, causing sudden death. Recently, new variant forms of pulmonary thromboembolism, termed as "economy class syndrome or e-thrombosis" were reported in association with sitting for long time in aircraft seat or at computer. The authors experienced a case of death developed after prolonged gambling at casino in 46-year-old man and concluded that the cause of death was fatal pulmonary thromboembolism due to deep vein thrombosis, associated with prolonged sitting. Therefore, the author thought that this case may be contribute to another possible risk factor of life-threatening pulmonary thromboembolism and highlights the importance of predicting deep vein thrombosis after prolonged gambling in sitting position at casino in the similar mechanism of aforementioned reported cases.

Key Words: Deep vein thrombosis, Pulmonary thromboembolism, Prolonged sitting position, Gambling