Evaluation of the Role of Toxicological Data in Discriminating Between H 2 S Femoral Blood Concentration Secondary to Lethal poisoning and Endogenous H 2 S Putrefactive Production
-
Nunziata Barbera [1] ; Angelo Montana [1] ; Francesca Indorato [1] ; Nadia Arbouche [1] ; Guido Romano [1]
-
[1] University of Catania
University of Catania
Catania, Italia
-
- Localización: Journal of forensic sciences, ISSN-e 1556-4029, ISSN 0022-1198, Vol. 62, Nº. 2, 2017, págs. 392-394
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
-
Resumen
Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas and has a strong odor of rotten eggs. It is absorbed by the upper respiratory tract mucosa, and it causes histotoxic hypoxemia and respiratory depression by exerting an inhibitory effect on cytochrome oxidase. To evaluate the role of toxicological data in distinguishing between the H2S blood concentration secondary to lethal poisoning and the endogenous H2S produced during putrefaction, we compared the postmortem H2S concentrations of six fatal H2S poisoning cases (8.7–28.6 mg/L) with the postmortem con- centrations of endogenous H2S of 12 subjects who died from other causes (traffic-related deaths) (2.2–32.7 mg/L). These results will be of interest to the forensic community as it underlines the importance of considering circumstantial evidence along with the toxicological and pathological findings in the identification of H2S lethal poisoning.
