Blood and tissue concentration of trace elements after fatal intoxication with cadmium chloride

Because there is a lack of data on blood and tissue levels in acute Cd pois oning we investigated a case of suicidal Cd intoxication with fatal outcome . The male patient survived 9d in the ICU. Kidney, adrenal gland, heart, li ver, lung, spleen muscle, small intestine, colon, testis, pancreas, salivar y gland, thyroid and brain collected at autopsy was analysed by atomic abso rption spectrometry (Cd,Se), neutron activation analysis (Cd,Co,Fe,Rb,Se,Zn ) and mass spectrometry using inductively coupled plasma (Cd, Se, Zn, Pb). As a reference Cd was determined in liver, kidney heart, lung and periphera l muscle tissues from subjects (non-smoker and smoker) who died as conseque nce of cardiogenic shock. The Cd-ingestion resulted in blood levels a factor 1740 higher than normal. The highest Cd-concentrations were found in kidney (200 mg/kg dry), liver and pancreas followed by thyroid spleen and heart (range 25-50 mg/kg dry). On the other hand, the accumulation rate was highest in heart tissue (facto r 737) followed by lung (135) liver (98), thyroid (42) and skeletal muscle (28) when compared with the none-smoker group. Because of the high accumula tion in myocardium, cardiotoxicity of cadmium might be considered. Quality control was carried out by comparing the results of the independent analytical methods and the analysis of certified reference material.