@article{ref1,
title="Potential use of pericardial cTnI, Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) in the forensic investigation of seawater drowning in Greece: An initial assessment",
journal="Legal medicine (Elsevier)",
year="2016",
author="Deliligka, Aspasia and Raikos, Nikolaos and Chatzinikolaou, Fotios and Venizelos, Ioannis and Chatzopoulos, Kyriakos and Goulas, Antonis",
volume="23",
number="",
pages="30-33",
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.<br><br>Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1344-6223",
doi="10.1016/j.legalmed.2016.09.003",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2016.09.003"
}