ChemPath: Drug, Forensics and Toxicology
No description yet. This curated deck is ready for daily study.
Card preview (22)
What sorts of deaths are reported to the coroner?
• Violent • Unnatural or sudden • Cause of death is unknown A number of these require analysis for drugs and alcohol in order to establish the cause of death
What sorts of case types are reported to the coroner?
• Addicts / drug use • Sudden unexplained / natural • Hanging • Overdoses • Road Traffic Collisions • Train deaths • Self-inflicted injury • Fire
What samples do coroners take?
• Ante-mortem serum / blood • Post-mortem blood • Heart blood, cavity blood (screening) • Femoral vein blood (screening and quantitation) • Urine • Stomach contents • Vitreous humor • Hair • Liver • Others – bile, muscle, powders, syringes
What is the most common drug problem?
Alcohol
What are the main problems associated with alcohol?
• OD • Accidents including RTCs • Additive effects other respiratory depressant drugs
What are the main problems associated with heroine?
• IV injection, volatilised • Fatal OD with both routes of ingestion • Additive effects other respiratory depressant drugs • Few rapid deaths • Most respiratory depression or aspiration pneumonitis • Tolerance
What is toxicology?
Concerned with anaylsing samples of drugs/poisins and interpreting the significance of the results.
What does ‘forensic’ mean?
Results/reports used in court
Why might drug levels appear erroneoously elevated post-mortem?
Tissue breakdwon can lead to the release of drugs from various tissues
Where can a sample be taken from for drug concentration measurement?
Femoral vein blood
When is vitreous humour used as a sample?
Used to measure glucose (may be elevated in DKA)
How can heroin overdose kill?
Respiratory depression or aspiration pneumonitis
What are the acute dangers of cocaine?
• Cardiac dysrhythmias • Acute heart failure • MI
What is the effectof mixing ethanol with cocaine?
Forms cocaethylene which prolongs the effects of cocaine
What happes to cocaine in post-mortem blood?
Breaks down rapidly so the concentration in post-mortem blood may be considerable lower than at the time of death.
Describe the consequences of amphetamine overdose.
Causes hyperthermia → rhabdomyolysis → renal failure Also has a direct toxic effect on the heart
List some examples of legal highs.
• Stimulats (e.g. bath salts) • Synthetic cannabinoids • Synthetic opioids (e.g. acetylfentanyl) • Hallucinogenic compounds
How long can drugs be detected for in the: • Blood and serum • Urine
• Blood and serum = 12 hours • Urine = 2-3 days
How are hair samples used in forensic toxicology?
• Demonstrating a history of drug use or lack of it • Demonstrating tolerance or lack of tolerance to drugs (helps interpret post-mortem drug concentrations) • Compliance with medications (e.g. antipsychotics) NOTE: hair samples are rarely used in coroner’s toxicology but it is used in forensic investigations
What are the issues with hair analysis?
• Environmental contamination • Absorbed from sweat or sebum coating the hair • Passive inhalation • Cosmetic treatment (e.g. shampoo) • Hair colour
What are the two causes of death due to cocaine use?
• Depression/suicide due to long term cocaine use • Sudden unexplained death
What are the main drugs used in chemsex?
GHB Methylamphetamine (crystal meth) Mephedrone