A CASE OF ACCELERATED RIGOR MORTIS

Abstract

Introduction. Rigor mortis is the tension of skeletal and smooth muscles that occurs after death and fixes the body in a certain position. It is one of the signs of biological death and usually develops in 1.5 - 3 hours, starting from the lower jaw. The full development of rigor mortis is observed in 12 - 24 hours after death. But in rare cases, its development can be significantly accelerated. Clinical case. A 34-year-old man was in the department of anesthesiology and intensive care for 4 days with a diagnosis of explosive trauma, neck injury with damage to the right carotid artery, hemispheric ischemic stroke. In the setting of multiple organ failure, moderate coma, central hyperthermia (40.3 °C), resistant to antipyretics, he went into a cardiac arrest. Resuscitation measures (including triple defibrillation) for 50 minutes were without effect. During the ascertainment of biological death, the presence of rigor mortis was noted in the lower jaw, neck and extremities, which was absent during the first 30 minutes of resuscitation and at the beginning of the asystolic rhythm. Discussion. The occurrence of rigor mortis is explained by the release of calcium ions from myocytes and the depletion of muscle adenosine triphosphate, which leads to the formation of a stable bond between actin and myosin. Instant or accelerated rigor mortis is rare. According to the literature, high body temperature, strenuous exercise before death, electric shock, convulsions and muscular dystrophy contribute to the acceleration of rigor mortis. Conclusions. In our case, the patient had severe hyperthermia (40.3 ° C), and defibrillation was performed during resuscitation, ie the body was exposed to electric current. Probably, these factors caused the accelerated development of rigor mortis.