Department of Forensic Chemistry, National Forensic Service, 10, Ipchun-ro, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, 26460, Republic of Korea.
Department of Forensic Chemistry, National Forensic Service, 10, Ipchun-ro, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, 26460, Republic of Korea.
Forensic Sci Int. 2021 Nov;328:111011. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.111011. Epub 2021 Sep 20.
Rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) is widely used for thermal and sound insulation owing to their low thermal conductivity and light weight. However, they have serious disadvantages, including flammability and toxic gas generation, which can cause chemical asphyxia during a fire. Carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) are representative toxic gases formed by incomplete combustion and HCN, in particular, is closely related to polyurethane product fires. In this study, the risk of inhalation of toxic gases such as CO, HCN and NO during RPUF fires was demonstrated convincingly through the analysis of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), cyanide (CN) and methemoglobin (MetHb) in the postmortem blood samples of 38 victims of RPUF fires. To better understand the toxic gas poisoning and chemical asphyxia, we classified all cases into two groups based on the extent of injuries and location where the victim was found. Mean concentrations of COHb and cyanide in group 1 without injuries were approximately two times higher than in group 2 with severe injuries, while concentrations of free MetHb showing possibility of NO inhalation were approximately six times lower than in group 2. Furthermore, we presumed concentrations of cyanide at the time of death and five cases showed the possibility of cyanide poisoning.
硬质聚氨酯泡沫（RPUF）因其导热系数低、重量轻而被广泛用于隔热和隔音。然而，它们存在严重的缺点，包括可燃性和有毒气体的产生，这可能在火灾中导致化学窒息。一氧化碳（CO）和氰化氢（HCN）是不完全燃烧产生的代表性有毒气体，特别是 HCN 与聚氨酯产品火灾密切相关。在这项研究中，通过分析 38 名 RPUF 火灾受害者的尸检血液样本中的碳氧血红蛋白（COHb）、氰化物（CN）和高铁血红蛋白（MetHb），令人信服地证明了在 RPUF 火灾中吸入 CO、HCN 和 NO 等有毒气体的风险。为了更好地了解有毒气体中毒和化学窒息，我们根据受害者受伤程度和发现位置将所有病例分为两组。无损伤组的 COHb 和氰化物的平均浓度约为有严重损伤组的两倍，而表明可能吸入 NO 的游离 MetHb 浓度约为有严重损伤组的六倍。此外，我们推测了死亡时氰化物的浓度，有 5 例显示出氰化物中毒的可能性。
