title: Death from Nitrous Oxide.
abstract: Nitrous oxide is an inflammable gas that gives no smell or taste. It has a history of abuse as long as its clinical use, and deaths, although rare, have been reported. We describe two cases of accidental deaths related to voluntary inhalation of nitrous oxide, both found dead with a gas mask covering the face. In an attempt to find an explanation to why the victims did not react properly to oncoming hypoxia, we performed experiments where a test person was allowed to breath in a closed system, with or without nitrous oxide added. Vital signs and gas concentrations as well as subjective symptoms were recorded. The experiments indicated that the explanation to the fact that neither of the descendents had reacted to oncoming hypoxia and hypercapnia was due to the inhalation of nitrous oxide. This study raises the question whether nitrous oxide really should be easily, commercially available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, National Board of Forensic Medicine, PO Box 7616, SE-907 12 Umeå, Sweden.|Section of Forensic Medicine, Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, PO Box 7616, SE-907 12 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bäckström
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Norrlands Universitetssjukhus SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: Section of Forensic Medicine, Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, PO Box 7616, SE-907 12 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eriksson
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home; D000328:Adult; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000506:poisoning*; D006801:Humans; D058545:Inhalant Abuse; D008297:Male; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000506:poisoning*
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D009609:Nitrous Oxide
keywords: abuse; death; forensic science; hypoxic asphyxia; nitrous oxide; restrictions