[Death due to cold of a 63-year-old male associated with hepatocellular carcinoma--bibliographic consideration on alcohol metabolism of the patients with liver dysfunction]

In the early morning of late December, a 63-year-old man was found dead in front of his apartment house. At medico-legal autopsy, subcutaneous hemorrhages of the occipital region and linear fractures of the occipital bone was observed, but there was no cerebral contusion leading him to death. Many white tumors, ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter, were observed in the liver. On sections of the liver, hepatic parenchyma was found entirely occupied by the tumors, which were histopathologically diagnosed as moderately- or well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma. Alcohol concentrations of the mixed intracardiac blood and the urine were determined to be 1.9 and 3.6 mg/ml, respectively. Through the police investigation, it became clarified that the male had been sleeping in front of his apartment house about at 10:30 p.m. on the day before he was found dead. The cause of his death was, therefore, considered due to cold, and the authors gave a bibliographic consideration on blood and urine alcohol concentrations and alcohol metabolism of a patient with liver dysfunction due to hepatocellular carcinoma.