ON THE INFLUENCE OF POSTMORTEM ALCOHOL DIFFUSION FROM THE STOMACH CONTENTS TO THE HEART BLOOD

Alcohol concentrations in the mixed left and right heart blood, urine and stomach contents of 186 cadavers were analyzed by gas chromatograp hy in order to find the influence of postmortem diffusion of alcohol f rom the stomach contents to the heart blood. In 39 cases where blood a lcohol concentrations (BACs) were less than 0.10 mg/g, alcohol in the stomach contents was suggested to be due to postmortem production, and the postmortem diffusion of alcohol from the stomach contents to the heart blood was less than 10%. In 147 where BACs were 0.10 mg/g and mo re, ratios of BAC to urine alcohol concentration (UAC) were 1.0 and mo re in 47 cases (32%), and less than 1.0 in 100 cases (68%). In 17 of t hese 147 cases, alcohol concentrations in stomach contents (SACs) were more than ten times as high as BACs. Where the highest ratio of SAC/B AC was 60.1, the BAC of 0.14 mg/g was suspected to be due to drinking. In the case where the highest SAC was 50.8 mg/g, the BAC of 5.18 mg/g , the highest in this study, seemed to be little affected by the diffu sion. These results suggest that it is important to compare BAG, UAC a nd SAC to assess the influence of postmortem diffusion of alcohol from the stomach contents to the heart blood. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ir eland Ltd. All rights reserved.