Postmortem Lividity (Livor Mortis) — Topic Test
8 questions · exam mode (answers revealed at the end). 18 min suggested.
A 34-year-old labourer is found dead in a closed room with a charcoal stove burning. At autopsy the postmortem lividity over the back and dependent parts shows a strikingly cherry-red colour, and the same hue is seen in the visceral surfaces and blood. Which mechanism best explains the lethal effect of the implicated gas?
ASulfhaemoglobin formation causing irreversible bluish discolouration
BCarboxyhaemoglobin formation shifting the oxygen dissociation curve to the left and impairing tissue oxygen release
CDirect cytochrome c oxidase inhibition blocking cellular respiration
DFormation of methaemoglobin that cannot transport oxygen