Dextropropoxyphene and norpropoxyphene in blood, muscle, liver and urine in fatal poisoning.

Post-mortem concentrations of dextropropoxyphene (DP) and its major metabolite norpropoxyphene (NP) were determined by combined gas-liquid chromatography and thin-layer chromatography in autopsy material from 53 cases of fatal DP poisoning collected over a 1-year period. Among 11 oral cases without simultaneous ethanol ingestion, the minimal lethal dose was less than 1.5 g DP chloride. The ranges of total drug concentrations (DP + NP) were 1.1-15 mug/g in blood, 1.3-23 mug/g in muscle, and 27-261 mug/g in liver. Among 21 oral cases were ethanol was detected in the blood, the minimal lethal dose was 0.7 g DP chloride (ethanol 2.41 mg/g) and the total drug concentrations was 0.7-12 mug/g in the blood, 1.3-8.4 mug/g in the muscle and 19-285 mug/g in the liver. The minimal lethal blood concentrations tended to decrease with increasing ethanol concentration. NP constituted roughly half of the total drug levels, somewhat less in muscle and more in the urine, and this pattern was not changed in connexion with ethanol ingestion. Other metabolites were not detected.