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Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case

Exhumations are performed in accordance with a court order and are crucial instruments in the investigation of death allegations. When a death is thought to be the result of drug misuse, pharmaceutical overdose, or pesticide poisoning, this process may be used on human remains. However, after a prot...

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Autores principales: Albano, Giuseppe Davide, Zerbo, Stefania, La Spina, Corinne, Midiri, Mauro, Guadagnino, Daniela, D’Anna, Tommaso, Buscemi, Roberto, Argo, Antonina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10305630/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37368585
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics11060485
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author Albano, Giuseppe Davide
Zerbo, Stefania
La Spina, Corinne
Midiri, Mauro
Guadagnino, Daniela
D’Anna, Tommaso
Buscemi, Roberto
Argo, Antonina
author_facet Albano, Giuseppe Davide
Zerbo, Stefania
La Spina, Corinne
Midiri, Mauro
Guadagnino, Daniela
D’Anna, Tommaso
Buscemi, Roberto
Argo, Antonina
author_sort Albano, Giuseppe Davide
collection PubMed
description Exhumations are performed in accordance with a court order and are crucial instruments in the investigation of death allegations. When a death is thought to be the result of drug misuse, pharmaceutical overdose, or pesticide poisoning, this process may be used on human remains. However, after a protracted postmortem interval (PMI), it might be difficult to detect the cause of death by looking at an exhumed corpse. The following case report reveals problems associated with postmortem drug concentration changes following exhumation more than two years after death. A 31-year-old man was found dead in a prison cell. Onan inspection of the place, two blister packs, one with a tablet and the other empty, were taken and kept by the police officers. The evening before, the deceased would have taken cetirizine and food supplements consisting of carnitine–creatine tablets. No relevant autopsy findings have been observed. The toxicological analysis was performed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and was negative for substances of abuse. Proteomic analysis was positive for creatine detection and negative for other drugs (clarithromycin, fenofibrate, and cetirizine). The presented case shows the methods, the findings, and the limitations of toxicological analysis in an exhumation case with a long postmortem interval (PMI).
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spelling pubmed-103056302023-06-29 Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case Albano, Giuseppe Davide Zerbo, Stefania La Spina, Corinne Midiri, Mauro Guadagnino, Daniela D’Anna, Tommaso Buscemi, Roberto Argo, Antonina Toxics Case Report Exhumations are performed in accordance with a court order and are crucial instruments in the investigation of death allegations. When a death is thought to be the result of drug misuse, pharmaceutical overdose, or pesticide poisoning, this process may be used on human remains. However, after a protracted postmortem interval (PMI), it might be difficult to detect the cause of death by looking at an exhumed corpse. The following case report reveals problems associated with postmortem drug concentration changes following exhumation more than two years after death. A 31-year-old man was found dead in a prison cell. Onan inspection of the place, two blister packs, one with a tablet and the other empty, were taken and kept by the police officers. The evening before, the deceased would have taken cetirizine and food supplements consisting of carnitine–creatine tablets. No relevant autopsy findings have been observed. The toxicological analysis was performed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and was negative for substances of abuse. Proteomic analysis was positive for creatine detection and negative for other drugs (clarithromycin, fenofibrate, and cetirizine). The presented case shows the methods, the findings, and the limitations of toxicological analysis in an exhumation case with a long postmortem interval (PMI). MDPI 2023-05-26 /pmc/articles/PMC10305630/ /pubmed/37368585 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics11060485 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Case Report
Albano, Giuseppe Davide
Zerbo, Stefania
La Spina, Corinne
Midiri, Mauro
Guadagnino, Daniela
D’Anna, Tommaso
Buscemi, Roberto
Argo, Antonina
Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case
title Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case
title_full Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case
title_fullStr Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case
title_full_unstemmed Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case
title_short Toxicological Analysis in Tissues Following Exhumation More Than Two Years after Death (948 Days): A Forensic Perspective in a Fatal Case
title_sort toxicological analysis in tissues following exhumation more than two years after death (948 days): a forensic perspective in a fatal case
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10305630/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37368585
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxics11060485
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