Postmortem, intravascular, red-blue discoloration is called?

Postmortem, intravascular, red-blue discoloration is called?

• A. Livor mortis
• B. Algor mortis
• C. Rigor mortis
• D. Agonal algor

Answer: (A)

Postmortem changes in blood distribution create a characteristic color change called livor mortis. After death, blood circulation stops and gravity pulls blood downward, pooling in the dependent parts of the body. This intravascular settling produces a red-blue discoloration of the skin where those parts are lowest. The hue comes from deoxygenated blood in the vessels, which appears purplish. This pattern can reveal the body’s position at or after death and helps estimate time since death within a rough window as the color becomes fixed over time. Algor mortis refers to cooling of the body, not coloration. Rigor mortis is the stiffening of muscles after death, due to biochemical changes, not color change. Agonal algor is related to pre-death conditions and not the postmortem discoloration described here.

Postmortem changes in blood distribution create a characteristic color change called livor mortis. After death, blood circulation stops and gravity pulls blood downward, pooling in the dependent parts of the body. This intravascular settling produces a red-blue discoloration of the skin where those parts are lowest. The hue comes from deoxygenated blood in the vessels, which appears purplish. This pattern can reveal the body’s position at or after death and helps estimate time since death within a rough window as the color becomes fixed over time.

Algor mortis refers to cooling of the body, not coloration. Rigor mortis is the stiffening of muscles after death, due to biochemical changes, not color change. Agonal algor is related to pre-death conditions and not the postmortem discoloration described here.