title: [Morphological and toxicological findings after intravenous injection of metallic mercury].
abstract: At the autopsy of a 25-year-old man who had died from combined morphine and cocaine intoxication, depositions of metallic mercury were incidentally found in the myocardium of the right ventricular septum and posterior wall. Deposits, toxicologically identified as mercury, were also found radiologically and histologically in the lungs. All these deposits were probably the result of intravenous injections of mercury many months previously, as is known to be done occasionally by addicts. Judging by the histological picture the greatest proportion of the mercury collected in the right ventricular cavity after injection, a smaller amount by embolization in the small pulmonary arteries. The mercury spheres which came to lie in the right ventricle then penetrated into the myocardium, moving outward and causing a chronic and partly transmural inflammatory response.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Gerichtliche Medizin, Universität Tübingen.
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Haffner
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Erdelkamp
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Göller
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schweinsberg
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity; D003932:Heroin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity; D008630:Mercury Poisoning / Q000473:pathology*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
chemical_list: D003932:Heroin; D008628:Mercury; D003042:Cocaine
vernacular_title: Morphologische und toxikologische Befunde nach intravenöser Injektion metallischen Quecksilbers.