ABSTRACT
Introduction In a study reviewing all reported cases of autoerotic deaths over a 50-year span, it was concluded that typical methods of autoerotic activity leading to death were hangings and use of ligatures, plastic bags, chemical substances, and a mixture of these.1 However, a standardization of the classication of asphyxia appeared in 2010,2 and a strict application of denitions of ligature strangulation and hanging has an impact on this list of the most common methods. A revisitation of the typical method of autoerotic deaths, based on the new classication of asphyxia, was performed, and most cases previously called autoerotic ligature strangulation were now reclassied as hanging. Therefore, true ligature strangulation is an atypical method of autoerotic death. Typical methods of autoerotic deaths should now be considered to be hangings, followed at a distance by asphyxia by plastic bags and chemical substances.3
