title: [Intracorporeal concealment of narcotics. Experience of medicolegal emergencies at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Paris: 100 cases].
abstract: One hundred cases of intracorporeal concealment of narcotic drugs were observed over a 6-month period at the medico-judicial emergency centre of the Hotel-Dieu hospital, Paris. Twelve cases concerned dealers who had ingested packs at the time they were arrested. The other subjects had been carrying the drug in their digestive tract, rectum or vagina for transportation. The illicit drugs thus transported were cocaine in 20 cases (ingestion), heroin in 65 cases (ingestion 7, rectal or vaginal cavity 58) and cannabis in 3 cases. Packs for sale being fragile, the dealers were particularly exposed to overdosage. Their management prior to intoxication was the same as that of acute ordinary drug poisoning, i.e. washing out of the stomach. In carriers, the risk of severe poisoning was associated with ingestion. The lack of antidote makes cocaine poisoning particularly dangerous. Surgical extraction is now reserved to cases with intestinal mechanical complications and to those increasingly rarer cases of fragile transportation packs.
authors.affiliation: Urgences médico-judiciairies, Hôtel-Dieu de Paris.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Diamant-Berger
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gherardi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baud
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Alberti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galliot
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bléry
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002186:Cannabinoids; D003042:Cocaine; D004064:Digestive System / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004349:Drug Packaging; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D005602:France; D003932:Heroin; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012007:Rectum; D014621:Vagina
chemical_list: D002186:Cannabinoids; D003932:Heroin; D003042:Cocaine
vernacular_title: Dissimulation intracorporelle de stupéfiants. Expérience des urgences médico-judiciaires de l'Hotel-Dieu de Paris: 100 cas.