title: Diagnostic value of cardiac troponin I in postmortem diagnosis of myocardial infarction.
abstract: Troponin I (cTnI) is a very sensitive biochemical marker for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI). Cardiac troponin (cTnI or cTnT) has nearly absolute myocardial tissue specificity, thereby reflecting even microscopic zones of myocardial necrosis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pericardial fluid levels of cTnI in medicolegal autopsy cases where patients died of MI and compare them with cases where patients died of other causes. This study included 89 cases selected during a 1-year period from medicolegal autopsies. These were classified into 4 groups: (A) myocardial infarction (n = 28), (B) salt water drowning (n = 20), (C) death resulting from injury in the respiratory system (n = 16), and (D) other causes of death (n = 25), excluding MI. The mean concentrations of cTnI were 1067.03 mg/dL for group A, 546.98 mg/dL for group B, 398.75 mg/dL for group C, and 577.47 mg/dL for group D. In cases with MI (group A), there was a significant difference in the levels of cTnI compared with the other cases. More research needs to be done in order for a cutoff level to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Rallou
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sapouna
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gourgiotis
authors.forename: Sotiris
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Athanaselis
authors.forename: Stavroula
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Papadodima
authors.forename: Chara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spiliopoulou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D010496:Pericardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019210:Troponin I / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019210:Troponin I