TY - JOUR PY - 2003// TI - Sudden cardiac death due to toluene inhalation from lacquer thinner JO - Journal (Canadian Society of Forensic Science) A1 - Hodgson, B. T. A1 - Acharya, V. SP - 161 EP - 164 VL - 36 IS - 3 N2 - 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.
LA - en SN - 0008-5030 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00085030.2003.10757558 ID - ref1 ER -