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Forensic Veterinary Pathology

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Forensic veterinary pathology: non-drowning asphyxia Introduction To ancient Greeks “asphuxia” meant “without pulse”, a definition that was transformed in the mid-nineteenth century to denote “suffocation” . Although modern medical dictionaries often differ in their exact definitions of asphyxia, all refer to oxygen deprivation often combined with failure to eliminate carbon dioxide . Life depends on oxygen and deprivation of oxygen causes cell injury or death due to decreased oxidative respiration 1. Oxygen deprivation can occur due to failure of: uptake, transfer across the alveolar-capillary membrane into the blood, transport in the blood from lungs to tissues, utilization within the tissues and inadequate environmental supply 2.

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