Table 1.
Patient Characteristics
| Cause of Death | Sex | Age (y) | PMI (day) | Heart (g) | Coronary Findings at Autopsy | Cardioversion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMI Patients | ||||||
| AMI* | M | 54 | 1.7 | 432 | Thrombus in LCX | + |
| AMI* | M | 40 | 1.3 | 454 | Thrombus in LAD | + |
| AMI* | M | 61 | 1.5 | 360 | − | + |
| AMI* | M | 62 | 0.9 | 389 | Thrombus in LAD | + |
| AMI* | F | 78 | 0.4 | 314 | − | + |
| AMI | M | 48 | 1.2 | 476 | Plaque erosion in LAD | + |
| AMI | M | 65 | 3.3 | 418 | − | − |
| AMI | M | 57 | 1.4 | 441 | − | + |
| AMI | F | 83 | 2.0 | 395 | − | + |
| AMI | M | 48 | 1.4 | 456 | Plaque erosion in LAD | + |
| Control Subjects | ||||||
| Drowning* | M | 61 | 1.7 | 433 | − | + |
| Hypothermia* | M | 61 | 3.0 | 380 | − | − |
| Pancreatic cancer* | F | 80 | 2.8 | 266 | − | − |
| Drowning* | M | 39 | 1.8 | 283 | − | − |
| Blood loss* | M | 45 | 1.3 | 370 | − | + |
| Blood loss | M | 73 | 2.5 | 378 | − | − |
| Asphyxia | M | 41 | 1.5 | 446 | − | − |
| Hypothermia | F | 88 | 2.7 | 403 | − | − |
| SAH | F | 69 | 1.2 | 285 | − | + |
| SAH | M | 64 | 2.5 | 387 | − | + |
| Drowning | F | 35 | 1.2 | 228 | − | + |
Serums of all 21 patients listed here were used for Western blotting. AMI indicates acute myocardial infarction; F, female; LAD, left anterior descending artery; LCX, left circumflex artery; M, male; MS, mass spectrometry; PMI, postmortem interval; SAH, subarachnoid hemorrhage.
*
Heart tissues of 10 patients were used for MS analysis.