Tardieu Spots are best described as?

• A. Dark red/purple spots found on the skin days after death
• B. Spots formed by external trauma
• C. Dark red/purple spots caused by rupture of small capillaries due to the volume of blood
• D. Postmortem erythema

Answer: (C)

Tardieu spots are tiny hemorrhages in the skin or mucous membranes caused by rupture of the smallest capillaries when there is increased venous pressure and blood volume reaching the microvasculature around the time of death. This results in dark red/purple pinpoint spots that are characteristic of asphyxial processes (like strangulation, smothering, or drowning). They are not simply a postmortem stain or an external bruise from trauma, and they differ from postmortem erythema or livor mortis, which are not caused by capillary rupture from intravascular pressure.