Volatile lipophilic substances management in case of fatal sniffing

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2017.08.005Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Volatile lipophilic alkanes management after sniffing of camping stove gas canisters is presented.

  • A large set of biological samples (blood, liver, lung, heart, brain, fat tissue, kidney) is analysed.

  • Canisters should be always analysed in fatal sniffing case.

Abstract

Death due to inhalation of aliphatic hydrocarbons such as butane and propane is a particularly serious problem worldwide, resulting in several fatal cases of sniffing these volatile substances in order to “get high”. Despite the number of cases published, there is not a unique approach to case management of fatal sniffing. In this paper we illustrate the volatile lipophilic substances management in a case of a prisoner died after sniffing a butane-propane gas mixture from prefilled camping stove gas canisters, discussing the comprehensive approach of the crime scene, the autopsy, histology and toxicology.

A large set of accurate values of both butane and propane was obtained by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyzing the following post-mortem biological samples: peripheral blood, heart blood, vitreous humor, liver, lung, heart, brain/cerebral cortex, fat tissue, kidney, and allowed an in depth discussion about the cause of death. A key role is played by following the proper sampling approach during autopsy.

Section snippets

Introduction and background

Inhalants' abuse in order to “get high”, now commonly referred to as volatile substance abuse (VSA) or volatile substance misuse (VSM) has become increasingly popular among young people and represents a social problem in many countries worldwide. Propane and n-butane are two volatile alkanes having respectively 3 and 4 carbon atoms in line. They are both easily distributed to lipid-rich tissues such as the brain and have sedative effect on the central nervous system. Propane is less toxic than

Summary

A 29-year-old man, well nourished, was found unconscious by his cellmate on the floor of the bathroom of his cell. The cellmate, awakened by the strong smell of gas, rushed into the bathroom and found the man unconscious next to a camping gas stove with gas escaping (Fig. 1). The Emergency Medical Technicians attempted cardiac massage, but the man was declared dead shortly after and the body was moved to the morgue.

Site survey

The prison cell was examined in cooperation with scene of crime officers

Discussion

In Italy, the voluntary inhalation of gas cylinders is a widespread phenomenon in the prison population, where the use of gas stove in the cell is allowed and regulated by law.12, 13 In these cases, the specialists involved in the determination of the cause of death need to properly handle the samples of biologic material to allow the analysis of volatile substances, by using gas-tight containers.14 The forensic strategy in this kind of death implies different steps: evidences collection such

Conclusions

In this case of a 29-year-old man, found unconscious by his cellmate on the floor of the bathroom of his cell, the forensic pathologist's timely intervention on the scene of crime, the early involvement of the forensic toxicologist and his active participation at autopsy were fundamental for the resolution of the case. The sampling approach adopted by forensic pathologists and forensic toxicologists and the analyses by GC-MS played a key role to obtain the forensic identification of butane and

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

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