[Forensic aspects of rigor mortis at death from general hypothermia].

Abstract

Forensic doctors, pathologists and pathophysiologists have long been arguing about the time of the appearance and development of rigor mortis (postmortem contracture of muscle tissue) at death from general hypothermia. There are many theories of the causes and mechanisms of the development of rigor mortis, concepts about the time of its appearance, judgments about the intensity and duration. It is believed that the time of onset, intensity and duration of rigor mortis in the muscles should be influenced by the initial content of muscle glycogen at the time of death. There are a number of opinions about the effect of temperature, glaciation and thawing on the rate and severity of rigor mortis, and the possibility of very slow and very rapid development of rigor mortis upon death from general hypothermia.