Although death is a gradual process, sometimes sudden death occurs in a fraction of a minute or seconds. Here we report a 49-year-old man without any underlying disease, which has instantly died in an accident scene due to compression of neck critical elements by a three-point seat belt. The examination of the body and the results of the autopsy, toxicology and pathology tests are described fro...

Workplace drug testing is a well-established application of forensic toxicology and it aims to reduce workplace accidents caused by affected workers. Several classes of abused substances may be involved, such as alcohol, amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, opiates and also prescription drugs, such as benzodiazepines. The use of alternative biological specimens such as hair, oral fluid or sweat in ...

very year American dictionaries add new words that have become so common that they are considered mainstream. In the area of medicolegal death investigation, “virtopsy” is trending in that direction. Most of us who work in the areas of forensic medicine and forensic toxicology have heard of the virtual autopsy—an autopsy based more on imaging than physical examination—for which the alias virtop...

*Corresponding author: Department of Clinical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. E-mail: [email protected] Le tte r t o Ed ito r Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: Kidneys are particularly susceptible to toxic injury because they receive 20-25% of cardiac output yet make up less than 1% of total bo...

very year American dictionaries add new words that have become so common that they are considered mainstream. In the area of medicolegal death investigation, “virtopsy” is trending in that direction. Most of us who work in the areas of forensic medicine and forensic toxicology have heard of the virtual autopsy—an autopsy based more on imaging than physical examination—for which the alias virtop...

In forensic toxicology, alternative matrices and sampling sites are required for a correlation of antemortem postmortem concentrations with the least possible error. Postmortem redistribution phenomena biochemical changes inherent to these processes possible, represent interferences in analyses. This study aimed perform bibliographic review through Pubmed database within 10-year period time, us...

Cocaine is one of the most widely abused drugs and one that is frequently encountered in forensic toxicology laboratories. Most often, the detection of cocaine would lead toxicologists and forensic pathologists to believe that the drug was used illicitly; however, cocaine is an effective local anesthetic and vasoconstrictor and is used clinically in surgeries of the eye, ear, nose, and throat. ...

In this study opiates (morphine and codeine) and cocaine and its related metabolites (benzoylecgonine and cocaethylene) were analyzed in pericardial fluid by GC/MS. This is the first study reporting levels of drugs of abuse in this body fluid. The analytical method used has been previously validated and then applied to 54 drug-related deaths in the Barcelona area (Spain). Median levels were as ...

An analytical database, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array ultraviolet (UV) detection, of over 250 toxicologically relevant drugs has been extensively applied to both clinical and forensic toxicology. This general drug screening system, based on a mixed-phase (octadecyl/cyanopropyl) column and gradient reversed-phase HPLC, can identify a wide range of basic, ac...