@article{ref1,
title="Detection of carbon monoxide poisoning that occurred before a house fire in three cases",
journal="Legal medicine (Elsevier)",
year="2015",
author="Oshima, Tomohiro and Yonemitsu, Kosei and Sasao, Ako and Ohtani, Maki and Mimasaka, Sohtaro",
volume="17",
number="5",
pages="371-375",
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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1344-6223",
doi="10.1016/j.legalmed.2015.05.003",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2015.05.003"
}