Clotted blood as sign of alcohol intoxication: a retrospective study

Abstract

A total of 138 autopsies performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University of Münster between 1994 and 2006 were subdivided into two groups: (1) 69 asphyxial deaths with a blood alcohol level (BAL) > 1 per thousand and (2) 69 asphyxial deaths with a BAL of 0.00 per thousand. The coagulation state in the central vessels was registered in all cases as fluid, compactly clotted or loosely clotted, and the post-mortem interval was recorded. Histology investigations were performed on the liver to analyze the incidence of hepatic fibrosis/cirrhosis. Fisher's exact test was performed to check for statistical significance. The blood was found to be clotted in 49.3% of the cases of group (1) and in 5.8% of group (2) (p < 0.01). The post-mortem interval did not have any influence on the coagulation state as observed in both groups. Liver fibrosis/cirrhosis was a rare finding detected in three cases in group 1 and in two cases in the control group 2 and, therefore, not relative to our observations. A distinctly positive BAL is often associated with heavy stages of blood coagulation as observed during autopsy. Distinctly positive alcohol concentrations have an influence on the fibrinolytic process and, hence, on the coagulation status.