Evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid cells in postmortem period to estimate death interval

In health, the cerebrospinal fluid is relatively acellular, although 1 to 6 cells/cmm may be considered within normal limits. The present study was aimed to evaluate the cellular changes that occurred in postmortem period to estimate death interval. 60 cases were studied comprising 36 male and 24 female of age ranging between 14 to 65 years. The cerebrospinal fluid sample was drawn by cisternal puncture. The cases were divided into 4 groups consisting 0–6 hours, 7–12 hours, 13–18 hours and 19–24 hours depending on postmortem interval. It was observed that number of cells in the cerebrospinal fluid increases after death. Up to 12 hours postmortem interval, cells could be identified and typeable cells include lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes. After 20 hours postmortem interval, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify and classify cells. The sequential changes occurring in the morphology of cell could be a supplementary method to estimate time since death in early postmortem period.