title: Cardiac troponin T in forensic autopsy cases.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to describe the findings of postmortem serum and pericardial fluid (PF) cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in various causes of death with regard to the postmortem interval (PMI) and comorbid cardiovascular disease, using 101 autopsy cases with PMI of 8-141 h divided into 9 groups: cardiovascular disease (CVD), other diseases (OD), poisoning (P), asphyxia (A), drowning (D), hypothermia (H), thoracic trauma (TT), other trauma (OT) and fire fatalities (F). The results suggest that cTnT levels may help to differentiate cardiovascular death from poisoning and non-thoracic trauma, as well as to differentiate cardiovascular and other diseases as cause of death from drowning and hypothermia. However, the effect of PMI, unlike comorbid cardiovascular disease, has to be taken into account.
authors: Institute of Pathological Anatomy and Forensic Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia; Estonian Forensic Science Institute, Tervise 30, 13419 Tallinn, Estonia. Electronic address: synne.remmer@ekei.ee.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Remmer
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Kuudeberg
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Tõnisson
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Lepik
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Väli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010496:Pericardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D011041:Poisoning / Q000378:metabolism; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D020107:Troponin T / Q000378:metabolism*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020107:Troponin T
keywords: Blood; Cardiac troponin T; Pericardial fluid; Postmortem biochemistry