Analysis of the Absorbance Pattern of Postmortem Blood Sample Using Spectrometer

Joo-Young Na; Jong-Tae Park

doi:10.7580/kjlm.2018.42.4.126

Journal List > Korean J Leg Med > v.42(4) > 1108843

Go to TopGo to Top Go to BottomGo to Bottom

TOOLS

Na and Park: Analysis of the Absorbance Pattern of Postmortem Blood Sample Using Spectrometer

Original Article

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2018; 42(4): 126-140.

Published online: 30 November 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2018.42.4.126

Analysis of the Absorbance Pattern of Postmortem Blood Sample Using Spectrometer

Joo-Young Na^1,²

, Jong-Tae Park³

¹Biomedical Research Institute, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, Korea.

²Emergency Medical Center, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, Korea.

³Department of Forensic Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.

Correspondence to Jong-Tae Park. Department of Forensic Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, 160 Baekseo-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61469, Korea. Tel: +82-62-200-4090, Fax: +82-62-223-4290, jtpark@jnu.ac.kr

Received 15 November 2018 Revised 20 November 2018 Accepted 26 November 2018

The Korean Society for Legal Medicine

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The diagnosis of cause of death (COD) or estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) is hard to perform using postmortem blood or other bodily fluids due to various biochemical changes that occur during the agonal phase or after death. To solve these problems, new paradigms and new analytical methods are needed. In this study, postmortem blood was fractionated with specific gravity 1.021, 1.029, 1.038, and 1.045, and the absorbance patterns of each sample of the 131 total cases (12 kinds of COD) were analyzed using a spectrometer. The absorbance was grouped into 9 patterns (ABS pattern 1 to 9) according to the wave length and the signal intensity. These patterns of postmortem blood were found to be distinctly different from the absorbance pattern of fresh blood. The analysis of ABS patterns is useful for the diagnosis of deaths due to acute or rapid bleeding, fire death, drowning and, in some cases, poisoning, but is not useful for the estimation of PMI.

Keywords: Spectrometry, Absorbance pattern, Cause of death, Postmortem interval

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Diagram of spectrometric analysis of postmortem blood. A, absorbance; T, transmittance; R, reflectance.

Fig. 2

Low level of absorbance signal in fresh blood fractionated with specific gravity 1.029.

Fig. 3

Low level of absorbance signal in fresh blood fractionated with specific gravity 1.038.

Fig. 4

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 1 is below 500 nm and the peak is less than 1.0 (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 5

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 2 is below 500 nm and the peak is more than 1.0 (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 6

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 3 is slightly over 500 nm and the peak is less than 1.0 (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 7

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 4 is slightly over 500 nm and the peak is more than 1.0 (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 8

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 5 is slightly over 500 nm and the peak is more than 1.5 (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 9

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 6 is below 550 nm (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×. SG 1.045).

Fig. 10

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 7 is below 600 nm (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 11

Absorbance spectrum of ABS 8 is below 600 nm and new peak is in 550 nm (5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Fig. 12

Absorbance spectrum of ABS pattern 9 is over 650 nm and peak show plateau(5×, SG 1.021; 7.5×, SG 1.029; 10×, SG 1.038; 12.5×, SG 1.045).

Table 1

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and causes of death

Values are presented as number (%).

ABS, absorbance; IHD, ischemic heart disease; CMP, cardiomyopathy; SCA, sudden cardiac arrest; nt, nontraumatic; ICH, intracerebral hemorrhage; SAH, subarachnoid hemorrhage; t, traumatic; SDH, subdural hemorrhage; RDA, rupture of dissecting aneurysm of aorta.

Table 2

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of ischemic heart disease

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; RCA, right coronary artery; LCX, left circumflex coronary artery; Bridging^*, ischemic heart disease due to intramuscular coronary artery.

Table 3

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of cardiomyopathy

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery.

Table 4

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of sudden cardiac

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval.

Table 5

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of intracranial hemorrhage

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; nt, nontraumatic; ICH, intracerebral hemorrhage; SAH, subarachnoid hemorrhage; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; AV, arteriovenous; t, traumatic; RCA, right coronary artery; SDH, subdural hemorrhage.

Table 6

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of aortic aneurysm (or aortic dissection)

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; RDA, rupture of dissecting aneurysm of aorta; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; LCX, left circumflex coronary artery; RCA, right coronary artery.

Table 7

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of asphyxia

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery.

Table 8

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of drowning

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery.

Table 9

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of poisoning

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; AAI, acute alcohol intoxication; CAI, chronic alcohol intoxication; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; CO-Hb, carboxyhaemoglobin; ACMP, alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

Table 10

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the fire death

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; CO-Hb, carboxyhaemoglobin; CMP, cardiomyopathy; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; PE, pulmonary edema.

Table 11

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals who died of infection

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; RCA, right coronary artery; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; TB, Tuberculosis; LCX, left circumflex coronary artery.

Table 12

Relationship between the ABS pattern of postmortem blood samples and BMI, PMI, coronary artery disease, and blood alcohol concentration in the individuals with other cause of death

ABS, absorbance; BMI, body mass index; PMI, postmortem interval; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; DM, diabetes mellitus; CRF, chronic renal failure; CMP, cardiomyopathy; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LCX, left circumflex coronary artery.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Forensic Service (NFS2014MED05 and NFS2015MED06), Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Republic of Korea.

Notes

^{Conflicts of Interest} No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

1. Wang K, Asinger RW, Marriott HJ. ST-segment elevation in conditions other than acute myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2003; 349:2128–2135.

2. Hauser AM, Gangadharan V, Ramos RG, et al. Sequence of mechanical, electrocardiographic and clinical effects of repeated coronary artery occlusion in human beings: echocardiographic observations during coronary angioplasty. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1985; 5(2 pt 1):193–197.

3. Eggers KM, Oldgren J, Nordenskjold A, et al. Diagnostic value of serial measurement of cardiac markers in patients with chest pain: limited value of adding myoglobin to troponin I for exclusion of myocardial infarction. Am Heart J. 2004; 148:574–581.

4. Normand ST, Landrum MB, Guadagnoli E, et al. Validating recommendations for coronary angiography following acute myocardial infarction in the elderly: a matched analysis using propensity scores. J Clin Epidemiol. 2001; 54:387–398.

5. Warraich HJ, Benson CC, Khosa F, et al. Diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction on computed tomography angiogram. Circulation. 2014; 129:272–273.

6. Min BW, Park JT, Choi JS. Postmortem biochemistry (I): cardiac markers. Korean J Leg Med. 2012; 36:1–14.

7. Hausdorfer C, Pedal I, Zimmer G, et al. Catecholamines, myofibrillary degeneration of the heart muscle and cardiac troponin T in various types of agony. Arch Kriminol. 1995; 196:46–57.

8. Matoba K, Terazawa K, Watanabe S, et al. Problems in applying a rapid assay kit for cardiac troponin T to medico-legal blood samples. Hokkaido Igaku Zasshi. 2006; 81:359–363.

9. Zhu BL, Ishida K, Quan L, et al. Post-mortem urinary myoglobin levels with reference to the causes of death. Forensic Sci Int. 2001; 115:183–188.

10. Madea B. Is there recent progress in the estimation of the postmortem interval by means of thanatochemistry? Forensic Sci Int. 2005; 151:139–149.

11. Luna A. Is postmortem biochemistry really useful? Why is it not widely used in forensic pathology? Leg Med (Tokyo). 2009; 11:Suppl 1. S27–S30.

TOOLS

ORCID iDs

Joo-Young Na
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1138-433X

Jong-Tae Park
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3192-7557

Similar articles