ABSTRACT
The state of digestion and distribution of the last meal in the stomach and the upper intestine have long been proposed as a method for estimating the time since death. The state of digestion and the transportation rate of food from the stomach to the duodenum depend on several antemortem factors, which contribute to the great intraindividual and interindividual variability of gastric emptying. Gastric emptying has been studied and quantified since the 1980s by using different methods. The stomach and small bowel were observed under direct vision after opening the abdomen, or the stomach contents were seen by means of a radiological control. In all cases, preparation of the stomach and small bowel was carried out 2 hours post mortem. The best-known instance where the estimation of time since death based on the postmortem evaluation of stomach contents became a matter of international controversy is that of Steven Truscott.
