title: Fatal hypernatremia due to drinking a large quantity of shoyu (Japanese soy sauce).
abstract: We report a case of fatal salt poisoning in a 55-year-old woman who suffered from depression and drank a large quantity of shoyu (Japanese soy sauce). She presented with the highest ever documented serum sodium level of 187 mmol/L. This was associated with symptoms of cerebral damage which developed within hours after drinking the soy sauce. She died as a result of massive pulmonary edema, despite intensive medical treatment. Viewing the results of clinical and postmortem investigations together, her death could clearly be attributed to drinking a large quantity of soy sauce.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Setatsukinowa, Otsu City, Shiga 520-2192, Japan. 31041220@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Akari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takaya
authors.forename: Tokiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Katsuji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006955:Hypernatremia / Q000139:chemically induced*; D008875:Middle Aged; D045730:Soy Foods / Q000506:poisoning*; D013405:Suicide