Citation

Deliligka A, Raikos N, Chatzinikolaou F, Venizelos I, Chatzopoulos K, Goulas A. Leg. Med. (Elsevier) 2016; 23: 30-33.

Affiliation

1st Laboratory of Pharmacology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece. Electronic address: goulas@med.auth.gr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Japanese Society of Legal Medicine, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.legalmed.2016.09.003

PMID

27890099

Abstract

The investigation of drowning constitutes one of the biggest problems in forensic practice. Elevated cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels in biological fluids have been associated with myocardial damage, whereas increased Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) levels were found in cases of seawater drowning. The aim of this study was to examine the diagnostic utility of postmortem determination of cTnI, Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) in the pericardial fluid, in differentiating between cases of seawater drowning related to myocardial injury and those brought about by other causes. This study included 76 cases selected during a 2-year period from medicolegal autopsies. The cases were divided into three groups, according to the cause of death established based on macroscopic and microscopic evidence. The groups were: 1) seawater drowning (n=23), 2) seawater drowning with histological evidence of myocardial infarction (n=28), and 3) myocardial infarction unrelated to drowning (n=25). cTnI was determined with an enzyme immunoassay; Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) with standard colorimetric assays. Pericardial cTnI levels were significantly lower in group 1 compared to groups 2 and 3. In contrast, pericardial Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) levels were both significantly higher in groups 1 and 2 compared to group 3. Our results suggest that the postmortem determination of pericardial cTnI levels may be useful in detecting previous myocardial damage as a contributory factor in death from seawater drowning and provide independent confirmation of the usefulness of pericardial Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) levels for differentiating between seawater drowning and fatal acute myocardial injury unrelated to the former.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en