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A Fatal Case of Cocaine Poisoning in a Body Packer
- Source :
- Journal of Forensic Sciences. 47:15227J
- Publication Year :
- 2002
- Publisher :
- ASTM International, 2002.
-
Abstract
- A 27-year-old man was carrying in his digestive tract 99 packages each containing about 10 g of a 86% cocaine powder. The courier died by acute cocaine intoxication due to inflation and rupture of four packages during a flight from Bogotá to Rome. At the autopsy, the external examination was unremarkable. The internal examination showed edema and generalized congestion of the organs. Toxicological analyses were performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after solid phase extraction using Bond Elut Certify columns and derivatization with BSTFA/TMCS. High levels of cocaine and benzoylecgonine were found in blood (4.0 microg/mL and 17.0 microg/mL), urine (152.0 microg/mL and 512.0 microg/mL), bile (99.8 microg/mL and 54.0 microg/mL), vitreous humor (7.1 microg/mL and 5.8 microg/mL), brain (7.5 microg/mL and 3.5 microg/mL), and hair (55.5 ng/mg and 27.7 ng/mg). The presence of the cocaine and its metabolite in the hair suggested that the man was a cocaine user.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Metabolite
Poison control
Transportation
Urine
Pathology and Forensic Medicine
chemistry.chemical_compound
Cocaine
Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors
Cocaine users
Cause of Death
Genetics
Edema
Humans
Medicine
Cocaine poisoning
Cocaine powder
Rupture
business.industry
medicine.disease
chemistry
Anesthesia
Benzoylecgonine
Cocaine intoxication
Autopsy
Drug Overdose
business
Digestive System
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00221198
- Volume :
- 47
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Forensic Sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5ad8818c1a0332b0feafedf3a8a42758