TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - Suicide by hanging under the influence of ketamine and ethanol
JO  - Forensic science international
A1  - Dinis-Oliveira, Ricardo Jorge
A1  - Carvalho, Felix
A1  - Duarte, Jose Alberto
A1  - Dias, Ricardo
A1  - Magalhães, Teresa
A1  - Santos, Agostinho
SP  - e23
EP  - 7
VL  - 202
IS  - 1-3
N2  - Psychiatric deviations resulting from alcohol and illegal drug abuse may be considered a major risk factor for suicidal behavior. This report describes a suicide by hanging, under the influence of ketamine and alcohol. The victim was a 29-year-old man, found dead hanging by the neck from a metallic beam in the ceiling of his workplace. Besides characteristic signs of hanging seen at the autopsy, toxicological analysis revealed a femoral blood concentration of ketamine and ethanol of 1.3mg/L and 0.66g/L, respectively. Positive qualitative results for ketamine were also detected, in a powder found near the victim and on the victim's nostrils, which suggests nasal inhaling as administration route. The hallucinogenic effects caused by ketamine, associated with an increased sensitivity of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors to ketamine as result of the previous history of alcoholism should be considered as potential inducing factors in suicide behaviors.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0379-0738
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.04.047
ID  - ref1
ER  -