title: An autopsy case of poisoning by massive absorption of cresol a short time before death.
abstract: A 65-year-old male patient who was hospitalized with schizophrenia died about 15 min later after ingestion of a large volume of saponated cresol solution in a mental hospital. Fatal levels of free p- and m-cresol in the heart blood were detected at 458.8 and 957.3 microg/ml, respectively, which far exceeded the fatal levels determined previously. The levels in the heart muscle, liver and spleen tissues were also extremely high, and there was 250 ml of cresol-odor-emitting fluid in the stomach. The levels of glucuronic-acid-conjugated p- and m-cresols in the heart blood were 38.2 and 85.6 microg/ml, respectively. Although the high levels of cresols in the heart blood may be due to diffusion from the stomach contents, it is surmised that the essential levels of free and conjugated forms in blood were at least 99 and 240 microg/ml, respectively, considering the results of postmortem examinations and some case reports. It was concluded that about 340 microg/ml of the total cresols was absorbed in a very short period following oral ingestion of saponated cresol solution in this case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Nagoya City University Medical School, Kawasumi 1, Mizuho-ku 467-8601, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monma-Ohtaki
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maeno
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagao
authors.forename: Mineo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwasa
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Isobe
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seko-Nakamura
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuchimochi
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D003408:Cresols / Q000378:metabolism / Q000506:poisoning*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011041:Poisoning / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia; D013405:Suicide
chemical_list: D003408:Cresols; C077977:cresol