Citation

Corliss RF, Mandal R, Soriano BJ. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 2013; 34(1): 1-4.

Affiliation

From the *Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and †Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PAF.0b013e31823a8b1e

PMID

23361067

Abstract

Methadone continues to be a widely used maintenance therapy for opiate dependence. However, methadone-related deaths have been reported frequently for over 4 decades now. Anoxic brain injury with pulmonary edema secondary to respiratory depression is the recognized mechanism of methadone death, although pathological intracranial findings are rarely described in methadone deaths. A selective area of brain injury has never been reported with methadone use. We present a case of a 23-year-old man who had acute necrosis of the bilateral globi pallidi in the brain and systemic rhabdomyolysis after ingesting methadone and nasally insufflating alprazolam. We also present a review of the literature on deaths following opioid use and associated brain injury.

Language: en