FATAL ACCIDENTAL INGESTION OF CARBON-TETRACHLORIDE - A POSTMORTEM DISTRIBUTION STUDY

This paper reports a fatality involving a 75-year-old white male, who ingested an unknown quantity of carbon tetrachloride (CCL(4)) toxic ag ent able to induce central nervous system depression and severe renal and hepatic damage-and who died after two days of intensive care. The analytical assessment of CCl4 concentration was performed on several b iological fluids and tissues employing gas chromatography-flame ioniza tion detection (GC-FID) head spate method. Both urine (328.5 mg/L) and bile (169.8 mg/L) had high concentrations of CC(l)4, proving that the chemical undergoes extensive urinary and biliary excretion. In accord ance with the high clearance power of lungs, systemic venous blood, (1 43.4 mg/L) had a concentration of CCl4 almost two and half times great er than in arterial blood (57.5 mg/L), representing the best specimen to correlate CCl4, blood concentration with the deep of narcosis. Vitr eous humor, (170.5 mg/L) concentration of CCl4 proves the capability o f the chemical to enter eyes and its relatively slow release into the systemic blood. Pancreas (657.9 mg/kg), brain (243 mg/kg) and testis ( 237.3 mg/kg) have great affinity for CCl4, The concentrations of the c hemical in brain are cortex: 243.2 mg/kg, basal ganglia: 216.1 mg/kg, medulla oblongata: 243.3 mg/kg and cerebellum: 175.3 mg/kg. As the dep th of narcosis is correlated with CCl4 concentration, brain represents the most suitable tissue for toxicologic analysis. Lower concentratio ns of the chemical are found in lungs (127.3 mg/kg), kidneys (150.5 mg /kg), muscle (71.1 mg/kg), myocardium (78.5 mg/kg) and spleen (68.3 mg /kg). Liver (58.6 mg/Kg), a frequently analyzed tissue in forensic tox icology, shows the lowest concentration.