[Secondary publication] Asphyxia due to Oxygen Deficiency by Evaporated Liquid Nitrogen.

Park, Jong Hyeok; Kwon, Mia; Kim, Hyun Jee; Choi, Byung Tae

doi:2015.39.3.88

Korean J Leg Med > Volume 39(3); 2015 > Article

Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2015;39(3):88-91.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.3.88 Published online August 31, 2015.

[Secondary publication] Asphyxia due to Oxygen Deficiency by Evaporated Liquid Nitrogen.

Jong Hyeok Park, Mia Kwon, Hyun Jee Kim, Byung Tae Choi

¹Division of Forensic Medicine, Busan Institute, National Forensic Service, Yangsan, Korea.
²Division of Forensic Chemistry, Busan Institute, National Forensic Service, Yangsan, Korea.
³Division of Meridian and Structural Medicine, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Korea. choibt@pusan.ac.kr

Abstract

An 18-year-old man collapsed at his workplace while putting desiccant into a cylindrical mixer, 2 m x 1 m in dimension, which contained rubber powder. His coworker found him collapsed, and he was transported to a hospital by a 119 rescue team, where he died. Prior to the incident, liquid nitrogen had been placed into the mixer to lower the temperature of the rubber powder. There were no injuries or disease that could have caused death. Analysis of the gas in the mixer revealed that the O2 concentration had dropped to 3.7% in 2 minutes following addition of the liquid nitrogen. Therefore, it was concluded that the cause of death was asphyxia due to oxygen deficiency caused by liquid nitrogen evaporation.

Key Words: Nitrogen, Anoxia, Asphyxia, Autopsy