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Diagnostic performance of urinary metanephrines for the postmortem diagnosis of hypothermia

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic potential of urinary metanephrines and 3-methoxytyramine compared to urinary catecholamine determination in diagnosing antemortem cold exposure and fatal hypothermia. 83 cases of fatal hypothermia and 144 control cases were included in this study. Catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine), metanephrines (metanephrine, normetanephrine) and 3-methoxytyramine were measured in urine collected during autopsy. All tested analytes were significantly higher in hypothermia cases compared to control subjects and displayed a generally satisfying discriminative value, thus indicating urinary catecholamines and their metabolites as reliable markers of cold-related stress and hypothermia related-deaths. Metanephrine and adrenaline had the best discriminative value between hypothermia and control cases compared to other tested analytes, though with different sensitivity and specificity. These can therefore be considered the most suitable markers of cold-related stress.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Centre of Legal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Rue du Bugnon 21, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Cristian Palmiere & Patrice Mangin

  2. Chair and Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland

    Grzegorz Teresiński

  3. Institute of Legal Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, University Hospital Hradec, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

    Petr Hejna

  4. Service de Biomédecine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Eric Grouzmann

Authors
  1. Cristian Palmiere
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  2. Grzegorz Teresiński
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  3. Petr Hejna
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  4. Patrice Mangin
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  5. Eric Grouzmann
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Correspondence to Cristian Palmiere.

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Palmiere, C., Teresiński, G., Hejna, P. et al. Diagnostic performance of urinary metanephrines for the postmortem diagnosis of hypothermia. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 10, 518–525 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-014-9585-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-014-9585-0

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