Using vitreous humour and cerebrospinal fluid electrolytes in estimating post-mortem interval - an exploratory study

Many previous studies have investigated the use of post-mortem biochemistry to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI). Vitreous humour (VH) potassium and sodium/chloride levels are well recognized to increase and decrease, respectively, in the post-mortem period but have limited ability in estimati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian journal of forensic sciences 2020-11, Vol.52 (6), p.626-633
Main Authors: Garland, Jack, Olds, Kelly, Rousseau, Guillaume, Palmiere, Cristian, Ondruschka, Benjamin, Kesha, K., Glenn, Charley, Morrow, P., Stables, S., Tse, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Autopsy
Biochemistry
cerebral spinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid
CSF
Electrolytes
Estimation
Forensic science
LITERATURE
Multivariate analysis
Post mortem
Potassium
Regression analysis
Regression coefficients
Sodium
STATISTICS
technical
Trends
Vitreous humour
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Summary:Many previous studies have investigated the use of post-mortem biochemistry to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI). Vitreous humour (VH) potassium and sodium/chloride levels are well recognized to increase and decrease, respectively, in the post-mortem period but have limited ability in estimating PMI. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is described to have different post-mortem biochemical properties than VH, but is not well studied in relation to estimating PMI. This exploratory study examined 20 paired cases of VH and CSF to investigate their use in estimating PMI. Linear univariate analysis showed Na + , Cl − and K + in VH and CSF share similar trends, but only K + in VH and CSF collected via lumbar puncture (LP) showed a significant regression coefficient (p < 0.01). In subsequent linear multivariate analysis, the coefficient for K + in VH remained positive and significant but not for K + in CSF. Only minor improvement was observed in the multivariate analysis. Our study showed changes in analytes in VH and CSF follow similar trends. K + in VH is most accurate in estimating the PMI, with no significant improvement in accuracy when K + in CSF is combined. Thus, the role of CSF electrolytes in estimating PMI may be very limited.
ISSN:0045-0618
1834-562X
DOI:10.1080/00450618.2019.1642956