Korean J Leg Med.  2016 Nov;40(4):99-103. 10.7580/kjlm.2016.40.4.99.

Usefulness of Dipstick Test for Vitreous Glucose in Autopsy Practice

• Lee K
• Koo HN
• Kim TG
• Park JY
• Baek KH
• Choi SG
• Choi CH
• Aum N
• Lee NW
• Choi BH

• KMID: 2361331
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2016.40.4.99

Abstract

The concentration of glucose in the vitreous humor serves as an important diagnostic marker for diabetic mellitus in post-mortem examinations, as the vitreous humor can be easily collected and the glucose test using vitreous humor is not significantly affected by cell autolysis and hemolysis. For a quick and effective glucose test, we suggest a dipstick test of the vitreous humor during autopsy. The results were evaluated and compared with other methods for significance testing. In this study, vitreous humor was analyzed from 257 autopsy cases. Qualitative concordance rate of the dipstick test for glucose and the hexokinase test was 98.7%, positive prediction rate was 89.6%, and negative prediction rate was 100%. However, there was no significant correlation between the dipstick glucose test and the hexokinase test. We conclude that the dipstick glucose test is effective and useful for post-mortem glucose screening testing and for additional post-mortem diabetes testing. Recently, the importance of post-mortem glucose testing has increased with the increase in deaths from diabetes complications. The use of the dipstick glucose test in autopsy practice can improve forensic medicine in Korea.

Keyword

Vitreous humor; Glucose; Diabetic mellitus; Autopsy

MeSH Terms

Autolysis
Autopsy*
Diabetes Complications
Forensic Medicine
Glucose*
Hemolysis
Hexokinase
Korea
Mass Screening
Vitreous Body
Glucose
Hexokinase

Figure

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  Fig. 1. (A) Principle of glucose detection of the dipstick glucose test. (B) Principle of glucose detection of the hexokinase test.

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  Fig. 2. (A) Figure shows quantitative change in the dipstick glucose test result to determine vitreous glucose concentration. As the concentration of glucose increases, the strip color changes to darker brown. Classifications are negative, 1+, 2+, 3+ and 4+, dependent on dose. (B) Graph shows linear correlation of the dipstick glucose test and the hexokinase test (HEX) results of the vitreous humor. X-axis is the HEX results (mg/dL). Y-axis is the dipstick test results (n+).

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  Fig. 3. Schematic model showing the efficiency of the dipstick glucose test for determining vitreous glucose concentration during autopsy.

Reference

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