title: Determination of triazolam by GC-MS in two autopsy cases: distribution in body fluids and organs.
abstract: A detailed procedure for analysis of triazolam by GC-MS was constructed in our laboratory. At the concentration of 100 ng/ml, recoveries of triazolam in plasma and urine were 84.9 and 91.0%, respectively. The coefficients of variation in terms of its recovery were 11.5 (plasma) and 10.2% (urine). The detection limit for quantitation by the method was approximately 5 ng/g. This method was applied to two autopsy cases, giving triazolam distribution in body fluids and organs. In one case (33-year-old woman), concentrations of triazolam in the heart blood, urine, brain, lung, liver, kidney, skeletal muscles and stomach contents were 83.9, 741, 106, 165, 507, 293, 125 and 343 ng/g, respectively. From these toxicological data together with autopsy findings, her cause of death was diagnosed as triazolam poisoning. In the other case (45-year-old man), triazolam concentrations in the urine and stomach contents were 7.81 and 41.1 ng/g, respectively, but it could not be detected in the pleural blood; his cause of death was judged to be a traumatic shock, based on autopsy findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Kanazawa University Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takayasu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohshima