Cardiac Troponin-T levels in heart blood as a marker to diagnose postmortem myocardial infarction

Cardiac deaths account for 50% of all deaths in developed and 25% in the developing world. One-sixth of world’s population lives in India and heart disease accounts for 24% of all deaths. Sudden death accounts for two-thirds of all autopsies in Forensic Medicine. Actual detection of histological sequence of the infected myocardium will develop only after significant time of, between onsets of myocardial infarction (MI) in death. Cardiac Troponin-T is not normally present in serum unless cardiac necrosis has occurred therefore cardiac Troponin levels act as a specific and sensitive indication of myocardial infarction. The present study was conducted on cases coming for medico legal autopsy to the Forensic Medicine Department at Gandhi Medical College/Hospital, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India for a period of 1 year from January 2014 to December 2014. Total 12 cases with 6 controls were analyzed. Cardiac Troponin-T Level was markedly elevated >2.000 ng/ml in all except one case of suspected MI. Sensitivity was found to be 91.66% and specificity 66.66%.