Postmortem cardiac troponin T levels in the blood and pericardial fluid. Part 1. Analysis with special regard to traumatic causes of death

Abstract In forensic pathology, previous studies have suggested the possible application of cardiac troponins in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. However, there appears to be insufficient practical data on other causes of death. The present study was a comprehensive analysis of the cardiac, peripheral blood and pericardial levels of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in serial medicolegal autopsy cases ( n =405) with a survival time n =122 and 21, respectively), asphyxiation ( n =35), drowning ( n =27), fire fatalities ( n =94), hyperthermia ( n =13), hypothermia ( n =6), fatal methamphetamine (MA) abuse ( n =12) and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning ( n =5) in comparison with myocardial infarction (MI, n =57) and cerebrovascular diseases ( n =13). Cases within 12h postmortem usually showed lower cardiac and pericardial cTnT levels than did those of longer postmortem time of 12–48h. In the early postmortem period of