Massive pulmonary embolization with cerebral tissue due to gunshot wound to the head

Abstract

Autopsy findings in a 22-year-old man who received a gunshot wound to the head and died at the scene are presented. Massive white-grey emboli were found in the pulmonary arteries, and these were identified as cerebral cortical or glial tissue by histological examination. It was thought that the momentary severe increase of intracranial pressure and simultaneous rupture of the superior sagittal sinus due to the kinetic energy of the bullet had caused the lacerated cerebral tissue to enter the blood stream.