Postmortem cardiac troponin I and creatine kinase MB levels in the blood and pericardial fluid as markers of myocardial damage in medicolegal autopsy.

Abstract The present study investigated cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) in the blood and pericardial fluid from medicolegal autopsy cases ( n =234, within 48h postmortem) with regard to the cause of death. The cTnI and CK-MB levels in cardiac, peripheral blood and pericardial fluid generally showed a mild and gradual postmortem time-dependent elevation ( r =0.231–0.449, P