title: Suicidal Fatality from Azide Ingestion.
abstract: A 35-year-old man ingested an unknown amount of sodium azide and died within 2 h. The postmortem interval was 3 days. No alcohol or drugs were found in the blood and urine. Azide was derivatized in the peripheral blood, urine, and vitreous fluid with propionic anhydride. A portion of the headspace was injected onto a gas chromatograph with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector. Azide was quantitated in the peripheral blood (1.1 μg/mL), urine (7.5 μg/mL), and vitreous (43 μg/mL). The vitreous appears to be a better fluid for azide screening because of slower degradation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Boniface Hospital, 409 Tache Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R2H 2A6.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meatherall
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Boniface Hospital, 409 Tache Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R2H 2A6.
authors.forename: Curtis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oleschuk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019810:Sodium Azide / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*; D013405:Suicide; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D019810:Sodium Azide
keywords: azide fatality; forensic science; gas chromatography-nitrogen-phosphorus detector; poison; suicide; toxicology