title: Fatal accidental enflurane intoxication.
abstract: Among reported cases of abuse of volatile anesthetics there is only one of enflurane intoxication. We report another fatal enflurane intoxication. A 21-year-old man found dead seemed to have experimented with enflurane. Three and one-half days after death high amounts of enflurane were detected in blood, brain, and subcutaneous fat. Gas chromatographic quantification revealed the following high enflurane concentrations: blood: 130 mg/l-1, brain: 350 mg/l-1, and subcutaneous fat: 100 mg/l-1. Histologic signs of drug-induced damage were lacking. No suicide intentions became known. It was concluded that the young man died of an accidental intoxication while abusing enflurane.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, West Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Daldrup
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Bürrig
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barz
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bonte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004737:Enflurane / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
chemical_list: D004737:Enflurane