In a significant percentage of cases involving both natural deaths and trauma cases, routine chemical analyses of vitreous humor for glucose, urea nitrogen, and electrolytes will provide very valuable and frequently unexpected information
concerning
diabetes mellitus, uremia and electrolyte imbalances associated with regular dehydration, hyperosmolar dehydration, or low salt conditions. Judicious use of a wide variety of other biochemical tests such as protein analyses, immunology, enzyme or
hormone studies, etc., may greatly aid in elucidation the cause of death in unusual cases, and the forensic pathologist must be knowledgeable as to the procedures which is expected to give interpretable postmortem results.
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