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Interpretation of postmortem toxicology results

المؤلف:  Sue Jickells , Adam Negrusz (Editors)

المصدر:  Clarkes Analytical Forensic Toxicology

الجزء والصفحة:  p207-208

2026-10-13

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Interpretation of postmortem toxicology results

When attempting to interpret drug concentrations, forensic toxicologists have traditionally placed a great deal of faith in the assumption that the postmortem concentration of the substance at least approximates that present at the moment of death. Over the years, we have learned that such faith is often misplaced. Even for ethanol, we continue to learn more about its kinetics and disposition during life and changes that occur after death. A thorough understanding of what happens to drugs in the body after death is still lacking, and even for living patients there is a poor correlation between blood concentration and effects. So-called ‘thera peutic ranges’ have been established for only a relatively small number of drugs, and patient to-patient variability can be considerable even for these. Some patients exhibit unacceptable side-effects with drug plasma concentrations well within the therapeutic range, whereas plasma concentrations above the therapeutic range are necessary to obtain the desired control with minimal side-effects in others. The problems of interpretation are even greater with postmortem specimens.