Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Dec 13;1(1):3-13.
doi: 10.1080/20961790.2016.1229377. eCollection 2016.

Research progress in the estimation of the postmortem interval by Chinese forensic scholars

Chengzhi Li  1   2 , Qi Wang  1 , Yinming Zhang  1 , Hancheng Lin  1 , Ji Zhang  1 , Ping Huang  2 , Zhenyuan Wang  1
Affiliations
Review

Research progress in the estimation of the postmortem interval by Chinese forensic scholars

Chengzhi Li et al. Forensic Sci Res. .

Abstract

The determination of time since death or the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most important and frequently asked questions in forensic medicine. Medicolegal scholars and forensic pathologists around the world have studied the estimation of PMI extensively in the past, and many novel methods and advanced technologies have now been applied in the field. For several centuries, Chinese forensic examiners have also worked on the estimation of the PMI, and there are a large number of excellent studies published in Chinese rather than in English, and these are not easily accessible or known internationally. Therefore we have conducted a review of relevant studies published by Chinese forensic scholars in the last few decades. The scope of this review is to provide a concise summary of the current progress in the estimation of PMI by Chinese forensic researchers using molecular biology, spectroscopic technology, entomological methods, energy changes, thanatochemistry and other methods.

Keywords: Chinese; Forensic science; forensic pathology; methods; postmortem interval.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
The relationship between radiation intensity and PMI in albino rats [98].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alibegovic A. Cartilage: a new parameter for the determination of the postmortem interval? J Forensic Leg Med. 2014;27:39–45. - PubMed
    1. Kaliszan M, Hauser R, Kernbach-Wighton G. Estimation of the time of death based on the assessment of post mortem processes with emphasis on body cooling. Leg Med (Tokyo). 2009;11:111–117. - PubMed
    1. Wells JD, Lecheta MC, Moura MO, et al. . An evaluation of sampling methods used to produce insect growth models for postmortem interval estimation. Int J Legal Med. 2015;129:405–410. - PubMed
    1. Tumram NK, Ambade VN, Dongre AP. Thanatochemistry: Study of synovial fluid potassium. AJM. 2014;50:369–372.
    1. Sara CZ, Menendez ST, Nunez P. Cell death proteins as markers of early postmortem interval. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2014;71:2957–2962. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources