Colchicine poisoning: report of a fatal case and presentation of an HPLC procedure for body fluid and tissue analyses.

A case involving a suicidal overdose resulting from the ingestion of colchicine tablets is presented. The drug was quantitated using liquid chromatography. The femoral blood level was 62 ng/mL, and the maximum concentration found in bile was 2921 ng/mL. Therefore, bile appears to be the sample of choice for toxicological analysis when a poisoning case involving colchicine is suspected.