Abstract

Introduction: Estimation of time since death plays a crucial roles in law enforcement agencies in most of the unnatural deaths. Estimation of post-mortem interval from changes of potassium level in vitreous humour is more diagnostic tool for forensic field. Material & methods: We prospectively studied 200 cases having known time since death for the present study at the Dept. of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Govt. Medical College, Surat in the year of 2015-2016. Level of potassium in vitreous humor in all subject were analysed in Bio-chemistry laboratory on the same day and various statistical tests performed. Observation: In this study age of the subjects were mostly from 26-35 years and predominantly male gender. Samples collected for this study were from 12-24 hours of post mortem interval with linear rise of potassium level in both eyes. Conclusion: Time since death was more accurately calculated with the help of potassium concentration of vitreous humour.

Key words: Post mortem interval, Potassium, vitreous humour, P value