Examination of Firearms Review: 2007 to 2010 - Interpol

and parathion were reported, with parathion being the most frequently
detected compound among the four [ 503 ]. The mean concentrations of
chlorpyrifos, diazinon, malathion and parathion were 0.72, 1.03, 0.82 and
2.90 mg/L, respectively. A case of a combined suicide by ingestion of a
pesticide, oxydemeton-methyl (Metasystox ® ) and hanging was reported,
where the level of dimethyl phosphate (DMP), a stable product of
oxydemeton-methyl, was determined using a GC-MS procedure to be
0.10 µg/mL in blood, 1.40 µg/g in liver, and 103.31 µg/mL in gastric contents
[504]. With no DMP found in urine but a high concentration in gastric contents,
a close temporal connection between ingestion of poison and hanging is
assumed. The concentrations of bromadiolone in whole blood and plasma in
serial samples from a 62-year-old woman, who was repeatedly
exposed to bromadiolone, using LC-MS/MS were measured. The half-life of
bromadiolone in blood was estimated to be about 6 days in the initial phase of
elimination, and about 10-13 days in the terminal phase. The mean
plasma/blood ratio of bromadiolone was 1.7 ± 0.6. Stability testing of
bromadiolone in whole blood samples after two cycles of freeze and thaw
revealed that bromadiolone concentrations decreased [505].
Toxicologists should consider that decedents who survived for a relative long
interval in cases of fatal poisonings may have lower blood concentrations of
drugs and poisons due to ongoing metabolism while undergoing intensive
medical treatment. Post-mortem toxicological analysis of a patient of drug
overdose who received intensive medical treatment for 1 day before death was
reported. It revealed that concentrations of trazodone, paroxetine and
7-aminoflunitrazepam in the femoral blood were 5.85 µg/mL, 0.30 µg/mL and
0.13 µg/mL, respectively, which were all below reported fatal levels. The
concentrations of paroxetine and trazodone in stomach contents, however,
were high [506]. The cause of death was concluded to be due to the central
nervous system depression by the combined effects of trazodone, paroxetine,
and flunitrazepam.
Due to continuous consumption of glucose by surviving cells postmortem,
blood glucose levels decrease rapidly. A study on 3076 cases for vitreous
glucose and lactate suggested that vitreous glucose alone should be used to
diagnose hyperglycemia postmortem, and that the limit of 10 mmol/L should
have a good specificity for diabetic coma, which theoretically would be equal to
an original blood glucose value of about 26 mmol/L [507].
681