Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury
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Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury. / Zwirner, Johann; Kulakofsky, Rachel; Fitzek, Antonia; Schröder, Ann Sophie; Bohnert, Simone; Franke, Heike; Renné, Thomas; Tse, Rexson; Ondruschka, Benjamin.
in: INT J LEGAL MED, Jahrgang 136, Nr. 3, 05.2022, S. 871-886.Publikationen: SCORING: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift/Zeitung › SCORING: Review › Forschung
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T1 - Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury
AU - Zwirner, Johann
AU - Kulakofsky, Rachel
AU - Fitzek, Antonia
AU - Schröder, Ann Sophie
AU - Bohnert, Simone
AU - Franke, Heike
AU - Renné, Thomas
AU - Tse, Rexson
AU - Ondruschka, Benjamin
N1 - © 2022. The Author(s).
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and its accurate diagnosis is an important concern of daily forensic practice. However, it can be challenging to diagnose TBI in cases where macroscopic signs of the traumatic head impact are lacking and little is known about the circumstances of death. In recent years, several post-mortem studies investigated the possible use of biomarkers for providing objective evidence for TBIs as the cause of death or to estimate the survival time and time since death of the deceased. This work systematically reviewed the available scientific literature on TBI-related biomarkers to be used for forensic purposes. Post-mortem TBI-related biomarkers are an emerging and promising resource to provide objective evidence for cause of death determinations as well as survival time and potentially even time since death estimations. This literature review of forensically used TBI-biomarkers revealed that current markers have low specificity for TBIs and only provide limited information with regards to survival time estimations and time since death estimations. Overall, TBI fatality-related biomarkers are largely unexplored in compartments that are easily accessible during autopsies such as urine and vitreous humor. Future research on forensic biomarkers requires a strict distinction of TBI fatalities from control groups, sufficient sample sizes, combinations of currently established biomarkers, and novel approaches such as metabolomics and mi-RNAs.
AB - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and its accurate diagnosis is an important concern of daily forensic practice. However, it can be challenging to diagnose TBI in cases where macroscopic signs of the traumatic head impact are lacking and little is known about the circumstances of death. In recent years, several post-mortem studies investigated the possible use of biomarkers for providing objective evidence for TBIs as the cause of death or to estimate the survival time and time since death of the deceased. This work systematically reviewed the available scientific literature on TBI-related biomarkers to be used for forensic purposes. Post-mortem TBI-related biomarkers are an emerging and promising resource to provide objective evidence for cause of death determinations as well as survival time and potentially even time since death estimations. This literature review of forensically used TBI-biomarkers revealed that current markers have low specificity for TBIs and only provide limited information with regards to survival time estimations and time since death estimations. Overall, TBI fatality-related biomarkers are largely unexplored in compartments that are easily accessible during autopsies such as urine and vitreous humor. Future research on forensic biomarkers requires a strict distinction of TBI fatalities from control groups, sufficient sample sizes, combinations of currently established biomarkers, and novel approaches such as metabolomics and mi-RNAs.
U2 - 10.1007/s00414-022-02785-2
DO - 10.1007/s00414-022-02785-2
M3 - SCORING: Review article
C2 - 35226180
VL - 136
SP - 871
EP - 886
JO - INT J LEGAL MED
JF - INT J LEGAL MED
SN - 0937-9827
IS - 3
ER -