Detection of butane gas inhalation at 16days after hypoxic encephalopathy: A case report
Autor: | Shuntaro Abe, Koichi Suzuki, Akihiro Miki, Hiroshi Nishioka, Kento Tsuboi, Takashi Saito, Misa Kitagawa, Munehiro Katagi, Masakatsu Nomura, Takako Sato, Hitoshi Tsuchihashi |
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Rok vydání: | 2017 |
Předmět: |
Male
Pathology medicine.medical_specialty Adolescent Adipose tissue Autopsy 01 natural sciences Pathology and Forensic Medicine 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound Forensic Toxicology 0302 clinical medicine Fatal Outcome Japan Administration Inhalation medicine Humans 030216 legal & forensic medicine Hypoxia Brain Cause of death Inhalation business.industry 010401 analytical chemistry Forensic toxicology Butane Hypoxic Encephalopathy medicine.disease 0104 chemical sciences Issues ethics and legal aspects Pneumonia chemistry Anesthesia Butanes business |
Zdroj: | Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan). 29 |
ISSN: | 1873-4162 |
Popis: | In Japan, there are increasing reports of death by poisoning following butane abuse. To determine the specific cause of death in such cases, it is important to confirm the presence of fuel gas components in the body, although careful analysis is required because of their volatile properties. In most reported cases, the subject died suddenly during or immediately after butane aspiration. Thus, the butane concentration in the samples from the deceased should be relatively high. Herein, we present a case of an 18-year-old man found with cardiopulmonary arrest, who then exhibited hypoxic encephalopathy for 16days in a hospital. At autopsy, we detected hypoxic encephalopathy, pneumonia, and ischemia-reperfusion injury of the myocardium, while the cause of cardiac arrest remained unclear. Toxicological analysis was then performed for fuel gas components in several specimens collected at autopsy. Results showed that n-butane and isobutane were detected in the adipose tissue at 16days after inhalation, indicating a role of butane gas inhalation as the cause of death. These data suggest that adipose tissue may be the most appropriate analysis sample to be collected at postmortem in cases where involvement of volatile and fat-soluble gas inhalation is suspected. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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