The detection of @entity14785 postmortem requires accurate biochemical analysis. Due to continuous consumption of @entity413 by surviving cells postmortem, blood @entity413 levels decrease rapidly. Therefore, vitreous fluid has been used as a substitute in forensic practice, since it has a very low cell count. It has been repeatedly reported that the sum value of vitreous @entity413 and @entity880 should be used to estimate the original antemortem blood @entity413 level, based on the assumption that pre-existing @entity413 is gradually converted to @entity880 under anaerobic conditions during agonal phase and the early postmortem period. In this study, we applied a strategy including consistent sampling of vitreous fluid from the centre of both eyes of deceased subjects as soon as possible after arrival at the morgue, and immediate bedside analysis using a blood gas instrument. In total, 3076 cases were included during 2004-2006. We found that, after an initial drop of vitreous @entity413 during the very early postmortem period, the levels stayed stable for appreciable time postmortem. Analysis of a second sample collected at autopsy 1-3 days later gave similar results (R(2)=0.90). In contrast, the vitreous @entity880 levels showed a steady increase. This implies that the sum value of @entity413 and @entity880 increases with postmortem time, as reflected by vitreous @entity972 level. In fact, a statistically significant difference in the sum value was seen between subjects with potassium below 10 mmol/L (n=1086) and above 20 mmol/L (n=531), p<.001. In addition, in this large material, we did not identify a single case with circumstantial indication of @entity4854 that only showed high vitreous @entity880 . We therefore suggest that vitreous @entity413 alone should be used to diagnose @entity4854 postmortem and that the limit of 10 mmol/L should have a good specificity for @entity14785 , which theoretically would equal an original blood @entity413 value of about 26 mmol/L. As to the methodology, we found that sonication, centrifugation and addition of @entity1388 to the samples are unnecessary procedures when using a blood gas instrument. The strategy resulted in a doubling of the number of @entity14785 identified at our department compared to preceding period when analysis only was performed on selected cases.

Postmortem identification of XXXX .

@entity880 :: ('MESH:D019344', 'Chemical') :: ['lactate'] @entity14785 :: ('MESH:D003926', 'Disease') :: ['diabetic coma'] @entity972 :: ('MESH:D011188', 'Chemical') :: ['potassium'] @entity1388 :: ('MESH:D005459', 'Chemical') :: ['fluoride'] @entity4854 :: ('MESH:D006943', 'Disease') :: ['hyperglycemia'] @entity413 :: ('MESH:D005947', 'Chemical') :: ['glucose']
@entity4854 :: (MESH:D006943,Disease) :: ['hyperglycemia']
