Post‐mortem clinical pharmacology

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology - Tập 66 Số 4 - Trang 430-443 - 2008
R E Ferner1
1West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reactions, City Hospital and Department of Clinical Pharmacology, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Tóm tắt

Clinical pharmacology assumes that deductions can be made about the concentrations of drugs from a knowledge of the pharmacokinetic parameters in an individual; and that the effects are related to the measured concentration. Post‐mortem changes render the assumptions of clinical pharmacology largely invalid, and make the interpretation of concentrations measured in post‐mortem samples difficult or impossible. Qualitative tests can show the presence of substances that were not present in life, and can fail to detect substances that led to death. Quantitative analysis is subject to error in itself, and because post‐mortem concentrations vary in largely unpredictable ways with the site and time of sampling, as a result of the phenomenon of post‐mortem redistribution. Consequently, compilations of ‘lethal concentrations’ are misleading. There is a lack of adequate studies of the true relationship between fatal events and the concentrations that can be measured subsequently, but without such studies, clinical pharmacologists and others should be wary of interpreting post‐mortem measurements.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Ferner RE, 1996, Forensic Pharmacology: Medicines, Mayhem, and Malpractice

10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66377-5

10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67411-9

10.1097/00007691-200204000-00002

10.2165/00139709-200524010-00004

10.1520/JFS14404J

10.1016/0379-0738(90)90182-X

10.1081/CLT-120018270

10.1258/0004563001901498

Yarema MC, 2005, Key concepts in postmortem drug redistribution, Clin Toxicol, 43, 235, 10.1081/CLT-58950

Harding‐Pink D, 1991, Assessing death by poisoning: does the medical history help?, Med Sci Law, 31, 69, 10.1177/002580249103100113

10.1097/01.paf.0000070000.13428.a3

10.1191/096032799678839761

10.1136/ewjm.172.1.11

Anonymous, 1975, Post‐mortem alcohol, Lancet, 1, 1229

10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.05.004

10.1520/JFS2004109

Vuori E, Validity of post mortem blood alcohol values, Lancet, 762, 761

10.1520/JFS13488J

10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.01.017

10.1002/xrs.569

10.3109/15563659609013820

10.1093/jat/29.5.319

10.2165/00139709-200524010-00005

Lathome Browne G, 1883, Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning: by Prussic Acid, Strychnia, Antimony, Arsenic, and Aconitia

10.1088/0952-4746/27/1/001

10.1016/S0140-6736(79)90345-3

Conradi SE, 1983, Fatality due to paraquat intoxication: confirmation by postmortem tissue analysis, Am J Clin Pathol, 80, 771, 10.1093/ajcp/80.5.771

10.1016/S0379-0738(98)00107-8

10.1136/bmj.327.7425.1222

10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.02.012

10.1016/S0140-6736(76)92842-7

McBay AJ, 1973, Toxicological findings in fatal poisonings, Clin Chem, 19, 361, 10.1093/clinchem/19.4.361

10.1016/0379-0738(85)90175-6

10.1177/096032718300200301

Winek CL, 1976, Tabulation of therapeutic, toxic, and lethal concentrations of drugs and chemicals in blood, Clin Chem, 22, 832, 10.1093/clinchem/22.6.832

10.1016/S0379-0738(00)00254-1

10.1111/j.1360-0443.2004.00744.x

10.1136/jcp.53.4.277

Ley N, 1993, Drink Driving Law & Practice, 7

10.1016/S0140-6736(82)91285-5

10.1520/JFS2002420

10.1136/jcp.28.6.483

Rouzioux JM, 1980, Résultats des analyses toxicologiques lors des autopsies médico‐légales: intérêt – difficultés d'interprétation, Acta Med Leg Soc (Liege), 30, 25

Koren G, 1985, Postmortem redistribution of digoxin in rats, J Forensic Sci, 30, 92, 10.1520/JFS10968J

10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.05.020

10.1093/jat/27.8.533

10.1520/JFS12828J

10.1080/00085030.1995.10757474

10.1093/jat/25.1.2

10.1097/00000433-199506000-00001

10.1097/00000433-199603000-00001

10.1016/S0379-0738(01)00530-8

10.1007/s00414-002-0293-z

10.1007/s00414-002-0292-0

10.1016/0379-0738(91)90185-L

10.1177/096032718500400307

10.1093/bja/aeg117

10.1016/0379-0738(94)90241-0

Jetter W, 1959, Postmortem biochemical changes, J Forensic Sci, 4, 330

10.1016/0379-0738(93)90261-8

10.1016/S0379-0738(96)02056-7

10.1520/JFS12023J

Dollery CT, 1999, Therapeutic Drugs

Galichet LY, 2006, Clarke's Analysis of Drugs and Poisons, Electronic edition

10.1007/BF02114580

10.1016/S0379-0738(98)00105-4

10.1016/S1355-0306(05)71646-4

10.1136/jcp.53.4.282

10.1081/CLT-200068860

10.1177/096032719501400709

10.1093/jat/29.4.223

10.1093/jat/28.8.631

Pohland RC, 1997, Postmortem serum and tissue redistribution of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in dogs following oral administration of fluoxetine hydrochloride Prozac, J Forensic Sci, 42, 812, 10.1520/JFS14213J

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00067.x

10.1016/0379-0738(88)90172-7

Gomez HF, 1995, Postmortem acetaminophen pharmacokinetics: an experimental study of site and time‐dependent concentration changes, J Forensic Sci, 40, 980, 10.1520/JFS13867J

10.1093/jat/30.9.651

10.1016/j.toxlet.2006.05.007

10.1016/S0304-3959(97)00142-5

10.1007/s00414-005-0022-5

10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.02.013

10.1520/JFS14404J

10.1093/jat/24.7.627

10.1136/jcp.46.4.292

McBay AJ, 1976, Propoxyphene and norpropoxyphene concentrations in blood and tissues in cases of fatal overdose, Clin Chem, 22, 1319, 10.1093/clinchem/22.8.1319

10.1520/JFS14071J

10.1093/jat/31.5.254

Karch SB, 2007, When the simple becomes complex – problems in postmortem toxicology, J Toxicol Clin Toxicol, 45, 335

10.1056/NEJMoa041888