Citation

Oshima T, Yonemitsu K, Sasao A, Ohtani M, Mimasaka S. Leg. Med. (Elsevier) 2015; 17(5): 371-375.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Sciences, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Hondo 1-1-1, Akita 010-8543, Japan. Electronic address: mimasaka@med.akita-u.ac.jp.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Japanese Society of Legal Medicine, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.legalmed.2015.05.003

PMID

26004303

Abstract

In our institutes, we perform a quantitative evaluation of volatile hydrocarbons in post-mortem blood in all fatal fire-related cases using headspace gas chromatography mass spectrometry. We previously reported that benzene concentrations in the blood were positively correlated with carbon monoxide-hemoglobin (CO-Hb) concentrations in fire-related deaths. Here, we present 3 cases in which benzene concentrations in the blood were not correlated with CO-Hb concentrations. A high CO-Hb concentration without a hydrocarbon component, such as benzene, indicates that the deceased inhaled carbon monoxide that was not related to the smoke from the fire. Comparing volatile hydrocarbons with CO-Hb concentrations can provide more information about the circumstances surrounding fire-related deaths. We are currently convinced that this is the best method to detect if carbon monoxide poisoning occurred before a house fire started.

Language: en