Question:hard
Relatives of a patient state during postmortem examination that the deceased had a tattoo which is now invisible. How can it be identified?
Relatives of a patient state during postmortem examination that the deceased had a tattoo which is now invisible. How can it be identified?
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Dermal pigment drains somewhere and stays there even after the skin mark fades.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Examine the lymph node
- Spectrophotometer
- Ordinary light
- X-ray
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Pathology-flavoured reasoning: tattoo ink sits in the dermis, where macrophages engulf the pigment particles. These pigment-laden macrophages travel through lymphatics to the regional lymph nodes, depositing pigment there permanently. That is why even a faded or decomposed tattoo can be confirmed by examining the draining lymph nodes for pigment. Walk through the options: ordinary light fails because the mark is already invisible, so option 3 is out. A plain X-ray does not image soft-tissue dye, ruling out option 4. A spectrophotometer is a laboratory colour-measuring instrument, not a body-examination method for tattoos, so option 2 is wrong. The dependable answer that works even on decomposed bodies is examining the regional lymph node.
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