Abstract

Postmortem interval is a matter of crucial importance in any death investigation especially those involving homicide. It is found that some biochemical markers remain remarkably stable after death while others show varying degrees of change. Serum liver enzymes levels are found to follow a defined curve after death. There is orderly raise and subsequent decline in serum. These enzymatic alterations after death can be helpful in estimation of PMI. Material & method- Total 100 cases were studied during June 2019 till May 2023. Out of total 100 cases were enrolled of which 74 were male and 26 were female. Condition of body, presence of any injury, cause of death, history of poison intake and other relevant data were noted. Blood sample was taken earliest since time of death within 06 hours of death. Subsequent sample were taken after 06 hours, 12 hours, 18 hours and 24 hours of death. Serum Level of ALT, AST and Acid Phosphatase were measured and their correlation with various factors were studied. Observation & Result- Level of these biochemical enzymes are found marginally higher in male. Mean level of SGOT and SGPT was found to be 158.80 IU/L in female and 182.7 IU/L in male. Serum levels of SGPT also show rising graph like that of SGOT. Serum acid phosphatase level show steady rise in first 24 hours of death. There was decline in level of acid phosphatase thereafter. Conclusion- Changes in enzymatic values in serum as well as in tissues after death can be correlated with time passed since death which helps in estimation of PMI. Further more research is needed in this topic for more accuracy.

Description