Effects of perimortem physical factors associated with death on exogenous ethanol concentrations in cardiac blood

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether perimortem physical factors associated with death affect exogenous ethanol concentrations in cardiac blood. Forty-one autopsies of alcohol-intoxicated decedents with no or little putrefaction were involved. Postmortem intervals ranged from 6 to 96 h at the time of autopsy. Our 41 cases consisted of 17 fire victims, 8 drowned persons, 3 blood-loss patients who underwent unsuccessful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for 30–50 min, 3 blood-loss persons without CPR, three non-blood-loss patients who underwent unsuccessful CPR for 5–60 min, and seven people who died of other causes. Ethanol concentrations in right cardiac chamber blood ranged from 0.12 to 4.40 mg/g (mean 1.39 mg/g) in all cases. An excellent correlation was observed between ethanol concentrations in right cardiac chamber blood and femoral venous blood ( y=1.01 x−0.087, n=38, r 2 =0.990). The ratios of blood ethanol concentrations in the left to right cardiac chambers were significantly lower in blood-loss decedents with CPR (0.71±0.13) than other decedents (0.92±0.07–1.06±0.06). Two factors, blood-loss and prolonged chest compression under ventilation, might have caused a decrease in blood ethanol concentration in the left cardiac chambers. Postmortem cardiac blood ethanol concentration as well as postmortem femoral venous blood ethanol concentration may usually reflect blood ethanol levels at the time of death when putrefaction is not evident. However, special attention is required for cases that received CPR after massive bleeding.