TECHNICAL NOTE: Stability of Ethanol in Postmortem Blood and Vitreous Humor in Long-Term Refrigerated Storage
Authors: Olsen T.1; Hearn W.L.1
Source: Journal of Analytical Toxicology, Volume 27, Number 7, October 2003 , pp. 517-519(3)
Publisher: Preston Publications
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Abstract:
Ethanol concentrations in postmortem blood and vitreous humor samples collected at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department over 5-6 years ago were reexamined to assess whether vitreous humor is a more reliable specimen for the analysis of ethanol in samples stored long term. The average change in 50-mL polypropylene tubes containing blood was 0.06 gm/dL (35% loss). On the other hand, vitreous humor samples collected in 10-mL gray-top Vacutainer tubes yielded an average change of 0.01 gm/dL (6.1% loss). This study demonstrates that vitreous humor may be a reliable matrix for ethanol analysis following prolonged refrigerated storage of the samples.Document Type: Research article
Affiliations: 1: Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department, 1851 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33136
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