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Post-mortem stability and redistribution of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT).

Rainio J, De Paoli G, Druid H, Kauppila R, De Giorgio F, Bortolotti F, Tagliaro F

Institute of Legal Medicine, Catholic University of Sacred Heart School of Medicine, Rome, Italy.

Post-mortem diagnosis of chronic alcohol abuse is a challenge for forensic experts due to the lack of pathognomonic morphological findings and often also inadequate background information. Objective methods demonstrating chronic excessive alcohol consumption would therefore be a useful tool for forensic pathologists. In clinical practice, several markers of chronic alcohol abuse have recently been introduced, among which carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is the most accepted, but the use of these markers in autopsy has not yet been established. We examined post-mortem stability and possible post-mortem redistribution of CDT and compared two analytical methods, capillary zone electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography. According to our results, CDT remains stable for an appreciable time after death. The results further indicate that CDT is not subject to major post-mortem redistribution.

Published 14 January 2008 in Forensic Sci Int, 174(2): 161-5.
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