Death in head-down position: an autopsy report with reference to physiological mechanism.

A 74-year-old man was found dead in the head-down position in a hole in a pile of trash at his home. There was severe congestion and hemorrhage in the head and neck regions, and bronchial petechiae. Head-down tilt is a well-known model in studying the effects of weightlessness during space flight. By comparing our case with the physiological studies on head-down tilt, we determined that the head-down posture would increase cardiac output, and systemic and intracranial pressure, while it would suppress respiration by a central or peripheral mechanism.