Diagnostic Value of PSA and AP Tests for the Detection of Spermatozoa in Postmortem Swabs from the Genital and Anal Region in Males

• Laurence Weitzig ^[1] ; Ann Sophie Schroeder ^[1] ; Christa Augustin ^[1] ; Tobias Raupach ^[2] ; Susanne Sehner ^[3] ; Sven Anders ^[1]
  1. [1] University Medical Center Hamburg‐Eppendorf Department of Legal Medicine Hamburg Germany
  2. [2] University Hospital Goettingen Department of Cardiology and Pneumology Goettingen Germany
  3. [3] University Medical Center Hamburg‐Eppendorf Department of Medical Biometry and Epidemiology Hamburg Germany

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• Localización: Journal of forensic sciences, ISSN-e 1556-4029, ISSN 0022-1198, Vol. 60, Nº. 1, 2015, págs. 41-44
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The aim of this study was to clarify whether positive results for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and acid phosphatase (AP) occur in postmortem swabs from the genito-anal region in males (n = 80; 4 regions) and females (n = 20; 3 regions) and to calculate the positive predictive value (PPV) concerning the presence of spermatozoa. In male subjects, the highest incidence of positive test results was found in urethral swabs (PSA 76%, AP 71%) and the lowest frequencies appeared in perianal and rectal swabs (15–20%). Microscopic evaluation for spermatozoa was positive between 39% in urethral swabs and 1% in rectal swabs. PPV regarding positive identification of spermatozoa was 33.3% for PSA and 31.5% for AP. The combination of both tests yielded a PPV of 38.2%. In female cases, no spermatozoa were identified, and one case was PSA- and AP-positive in perianal swabs. Our findings indicate that PSA and AP tests are of limited value for the postmortem detection of spermatozoa in male subjects.