Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
2000-4-13
pubmed:abstractText
Deaths from the effects of alcohol intoxication are encountered routinely in forensic practice. In an important number of cases difficulty may arise in interpreting the significance of results obtained in the autopsy. In clinical practice biochemical markers, particularly serum gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), and erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume are used to diagnose heavy alcohol consumption. CDT is used as a reliable and specific marker. In postmortem diagnosis, because of the difficulty in interpreting blood alcohol levels and relatively non-specific pathological features, biochemical compounds have been studied for use as possible markers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the postmortem determination of CDT in vitreous humor as a confirmation of antemortem alcoholism. CDT levels were studied in 66 male cadavers with a mean age of 55.9 years (S.D. 17.0, range 22-87 years) with a mean postmortem interval of 17.9 h (S.D. 11.4, range 4-72 h). Cases were assigned to two diagnostic groups according to the antemortem diagnosis of alcoholism. Statistically significant differences were found for CDT and ALT concentrations between the two diagnostic groups. The highest vitreous humor levels of CDT and ALT were obtained in the group of cases with a previous diagnosis of alcoholism. Our results suggest that vitreous humor CDT levels are useful in cases where the postmortem diagnosis of alcoholism is hindered by the non-specificity of data.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
0379-0738
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
28
pubmed:volume
108
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
205-13
pubmed:dateRevised
2011-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Adult, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Aged, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Aged, 80 and over, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Alanine Transaminase, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Alcoholism, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Aspartate Aminotransferases, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Autopsy, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Biological Markers, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Cadaver, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Cause of Death, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Erythrocyte Indices, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Ethanol, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Forensic Medicine, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Male, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Middle Aged, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-ROC Curve, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Reproducibility of Results, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Sensitivity and Specificity, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Transferrin, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-Vitreous Body, pubmed-meshheading:10737467-gamma-Glutamyltransferase
pubmed:year
2000
pubmed:articleTitle
Vitreous humor carbohydrate-deficient transferrin concentrations in the postmortem diagnosis of alcoholism.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Murcia, Spain. eosuna@fcu.um.es
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article