National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Service, Porto, Portugal.
Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Int J Legal Med. 2022 Sep;136(5):1297-1301. doi: 10.1007/s00414-022-02818-w. Epub 2022 Apr 1.
Over the past few years, the new psychoactive substances' phenomenon has been continuously studied. Its dynamic context is characterized by a broad diversity of substances, including several groups, such as synthetic cathinones, synthetic opiates, and synthetic cannabinoids. However, and due both to this diversity and to the low number of detected cases, information on intoxication reports is always important, in order to understand their biological mechanisms. In this case, a male individual was found unresponsive, with some different powders and paraphernalia near him. After toxicological analysis to the powders, paraphernalia, and whole blood samples, five different compounds were identified. From these, two of them (3-MeO-PCP and o-desmethyltramadol) were identified and quantitated in the whole blood sample. The obtained results suggested that death was due to the presence and action of these two substances, in what may be considered an unusual mix of NPS. This case highlights the value of evaluating all the traces found in the scene investigation and the need of sending all the paraphernalia found for toxicological examination, together with all the possible information obtained on the scene, namely by relatives or witnesses. On the other hand, this case shows the significance of broad-spectrum analytical methods, in order to detect and identify, as specifically as possible, eventual substances present and used by victims.
在过去的几年中，新精神活性物质现象不断得到研究。其动态环境的特点是物质的广泛多样性，包括几个类别，如合成卡西酮、合成阿片类药物和合成大麻素。然而，由于这种多样性以及检测到的案例数量较少，中毒报告的信息总是很重要，以便了解其生物学机制。在这种情况下，发现一名男性失去反应，他的身边有一些不同的粉末和用具。对粉末、用具和全血样本进行毒理学分析后，鉴定出了五种不同的化合物。其中，两种化合物（3-MeO-PCP 和 o-去甲曲马多）在全血样本中被鉴定和定量。结果表明，死亡是由于这两种物质的存在和作用，这可能被认为是一种不寻常的新精神活性物质混合物。该案例突出了评估现场调查中发现的所有痕迹的价值，以及需要对发现的所有用具进行毒理学检查，并与在现场获得的所有可能信息一起发送，即通过亲属或证人。另一方面，该案例表明了广谱分析方法的重要性，以便尽可能具体地检测和识别可能存在并被受害者使用的物质。
