Comparison of ethanol concentrations in right cardiac blood, left cardiac blood and peripheral blood in a series of 30 cases

Pelissier-Alicot, Anne-Laure; Coste, Nicolas; Bartoli, Christophe; Piercecchi-Marti, Marie-Dominique; Sanvoisin, Alain; Gouvernet, Joanny; Leonetti, Georges

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.12.008

« Previous Next »Forensic Science International
Volume 156, Issue 1 , Pages 35-39, 6 January 2006

Comparison of ethanol concentrations in right cardiac blood, left cardiac blood and peripheral blood in a series of 30 cases

Anne-Laure Pelissier-Alicot
- Service de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 4 91 32 45 16; fax: +33 4 91 32 45 12.
Nicolas Coste
- Service de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France
Christophe Bartoli
- Service de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France
Marie-Dominique Piercecchi-Marti
- Service de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France
Alain Sanvoisin
- Service de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France
Joanny Gouvernet
- LERTIM, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France
Georges Leonetti
- Service de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, F-13385 Marseille, France

Received 8 July 2004; received in revised form 4 December 2004; accepted 4 December 2004. published online 25 January 2005.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare ethanol concentrations in right cardiac blood, left cardiac blood and peripheral blood. Samples were taken from a series of 30 medicolegal autopsies. Ethanol was measured by headspace GC-FID. In each case, the degree of putrefaction, chest or abdominal injury, and/or regurgitation of gastric contents into the airways were noted. Our results show that there exists in certain cases a marked increase in ethanol concentration in left cardiac blood compared with right cardiac blood and peripheral blood. In these cases, we observed (i) a high concentration of ethanol in the gastric contents and (ii) regurgitation of gastric contents into the airways. The authors discuss the post-mortem redistribution mechanisms which could explain these results and stress the value of sampling right cardiac blood at autopsy.

Keywords: Ethanol, Right cardiac blood, Left cardiac blood, Peripheral blood, Post-mortem redistribution