McAllister J L, Roby R J, Levine Barry, Purser David
Combustion Science and Engineering, Inc., Columbia, Maryland 21045, USA.
J Anal Toxicol. 2008 Oct;32(8):612-20. doi: 10.1093/jat/32.8.612.
The toxicological and postmortem analysis of fire victims' blood and tissue can disclose the type and quantity of toxic species, such as carbon monoxide or hydrogen cyanide, that they inhaled prior to death. For fire cases, these toxicological data can reveal objective data about the nature and circumstances of a fire, and thus assist both the Medical Examiner and the Fire Investigator in their investigations. Assigning a level of significance to cyanide concentrations found in the blood and tissue of fire victims is often hampered by the fact that cyanide is inherently unstable in cadavers and in stored tissue samples. Numerous researchers have provided insight into and characterized the stability of cyanide in the body and in collected biological specimens. Based on studies by these researchers, the rate of transformation of cyanide in blood and tissue specimens is dependent on the initial cyanide concentration in the sample at time of death, the length of time that a sample remains in the cadaver, the length of time that a sample remains in storage, and the preservation (e.g., addition of sodium fluoride to sample) and storage conditions (e.g., temperature) of the sample.
对火灾受害者血液和组织进行毒理学及死后分析，可揭示其生前吸入的有毒物质类型及数量，如一氧化碳或氰化氢。对于火灾案件，这些毒理学数据能够揭示有关火灾性质和情况的客观数据，从而协助法医和火灾调查人员进行调查。由于氰化物在尸体和储存的组织样本中本身不稳定，因此在确定火灾受害者血液和组织中氰化物浓度的显著程度时常常受到阻碍。众多研究人员对氰化物在体内及采集的生物样本中的稳定性进行了深入研究并加以描述。基于这些研究人员的研究，血液和组织样本中氰化物的转化速率取决于死亡时样本中的初始氰化物浓度、样本在尸体中留存的时间、样本储存的时间，以及样本的保存方式（如向样本中添加氟化钠）和储存条件（如温度）。
