Citation

Tracqui A, Kintz P, Cirimele V, Berthault F, Mangin P, Ludes B. J. Anal. Toxicol. 1997; 21(4): 314-318.

Affiliation

Institut de Médecine Légale, Strasbourg, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Preston Publications)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9248952

Abstract

A fatality that was due to massive ingestion of the thioxanthene neuroleptic (Z)-cis-clopenthixol (zuclopenthixol, Z-CPT) is described. The total toxicological screening and the quantitation of both the ingested drugs and its inactive isomer (E)-trans-clopenthixol (E-CPT, produced by in vivo isomerization) in postmortem fluids and viscerae were produced by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detection. Drug confirmation was carried out by HPLC-mass spectrometry with an ionspray interface. Although death occurred 40 h after the drug intake, postmortem blood concentrations were 391 and 275 mg/mL for Z-CPT and E-CPT, respectively (50 to 100 times the usual therapeutic values). The cause of death was suicide, and the manner was acute neuroleptic overdosage.

Language: en