TY - JOUR
T1 - Technical note: unsafe rectal temperature measurements due to delayed warming of the thermocouple by using a condom
T2 - An issue concerning the estimation of the postmortem interval by using Henßge’s nomogram
AU - Duijst, Wilma
AU - Krap, Tristan
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - In some cases, in the Netherlands, an additional layer is being added to the thermocouple, used to measure the rectal temperature in medicolegal death investigations. Because of this deviation from the standard method, questions arose regarding the accuracy and precision of the measured temperature. Therefore, a cooling experiment was carried out on a round body made of agar with an average thermal conductivity of 0.454 W/(m ?C) while measuring the temperature with and without an additional layer around the thermocouple for three different starting temperatures: 36, 30, and 27 ?C. The results show a significant difference between the measured values for the first 5 min when comparing with and without the additional layer. Further, a decrease in precision is present within the first minutes when using an additional layer. Therefore, it is concluded that it is best to measure the rectal temperature without an additional layer around the thermocouple and caution should be taken when measuring with an additional layer.
AB - In some cases, in the Netherlands, an additional layer is being added to the thermocouple, used to measure the rectal temperature in medicolegal death investigations. Because of this deviation from the standard method, questions arose regarding the accuracy and precision of the measured temperature. Therefore, a cooling experiment was carried out on a round body made of agar with an average thermal conductivity of 0.454 W/(m ?C) while measuring the temperature with and without an additional layer around the thermocouple for three different starting temperatures: 36, 30, and 27 ?C. The results show a significant difference between the measured values for the first 5 min when comparing with and without the additional layer. Further, a decrease in precision is present within the first minutes when using an additional layer. Therefore, it is concluded that it is best to measure the rectal temperature without an additional layer around the thermocouple and caution should be taken when measuring with an additional layer.
U2 - 10.1007/s00414-015-1186-2
DO - 10.1007/s00414-015-1186-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 25972304
VL - 130
SP - 447
EP - 456
JO - International Journal of Legal Medicine
JF - International Journal of Legal Medicine
SN - 0937-9827
IS - 2
ER -