TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1995//
TI  - Death due to asphyxia linked to antipsychotic drugs
JO  - Nippon Hoigaku Zasshi
A1  - Jitsufuchi, N.
A1  - Nagata, Toshiaki
A1  - Kudo, K.
A1  - Imamura, Tomohiko
A1  - Tokunaga, H.
SP  - 255
EP  - 259
VL  - 49
IS  - 4
N2  - A 46-year-old man with schizophrenia, died in hospital. Autopsy revealed numerous facial injuries and the direct cause of death was apparently asphyxia as a large amount of coagulated blood was present in the lower part of the trachea and bronchi. The blood derived from a lacerated wound of the mouth. The question was raised as to why expectoration was impossible and a toxicological analysis was directed to the antipsychotic drugs allegedly prescribed by doctors at the hospital. Using gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, four different antipsychotic drugs including chlorpromazine, levomepromazine, zotepine and haloperidol were identified in the whole blood and tissues with concentrations being 1.91, 0.75, 0.61 and 0.48 micrograms/g in the blood, respectively. These levels were toxic to the extent that he could not expectorate and blood accumulating in the airway led to asphyxia and death.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0047-1887
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -