Biventricular measurement of blood strontium in real cases of drowning

A simple method for blood strontium determination by spetrophotometry atomic absorption with Zeeman correction is proposed. This method is applied to real cases of death by drowning, where the difference in blood strontium concentration between the left and the right side of the heart could contribute, together with other data, to the investigation of causes of death in cases of drowning in salt water. The differences obtained in blood strontium concentrations between the left and the right side of the heart in cases of supposed 'typical drowning' in sea water were always > 75 micrograms Sr/l, compared to < 20 micrograms Sr/l found in two supposed cases of 'atypical drowning'.