Citation

Hodgson BT, Acharya V. J. Can. Soc. Forensic Sci. 2003; 36(3): 161-164.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Canadian Society of Forensic Science, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00085030.2003.10757558

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A 32-year old woman was found not breathing in the early morning hours of a February day, next to a retaining wall of a treed downtown area. She had been sniffing fumes from commercial lacquer thinner. She was dead at the scene and no resuscitation was attempted. The ambient temperatures in the hours leading up to her death were in the range of −6° to −7°C. A complete post mortem examination revealed significant subendocardial contraction band necrosis of the left ventricle in the absence of coronary artery disease, and normal weight of the heart. Toxicological analysis showed the peripheral blood to contain between 2 and 3 mg/dL toluene. In the absence of trauma and of any other findings, the cause of death was attributed to toluene cardiotoxicity with possible arrhythmia. A possible additional contributing factor could have been hypothermia with external cold exposure and associated paradoxical partial undressing.