The Spice of Death: Sudden Cardiac Arrest After Novel Psychoactive Substance Exposure.

ABSTRACT: Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs), commonly referred to as "K2" or "spice," are a relatively new toxicology challenge for pediatricians. Adolescents often incorrectly believe that these drugs are safe and can be used without major adverse effects. Although recent legislation attempts to ensure that these drugs are not commercially available, many are able to be purchased online as "not fit for human consumption" or under various misnomers such "incense." In addition, there is a wide chemical variation among these substances, making regulation challenging. Standard urine drug screens test for tetrahydrocannabinol, which may not cross-react with synthetic substances, making NPS poisonings difficult to diagnose. We report a case of fatal cardiac arrest in a 16-year-old adolescent boy temporally associated with use of the NPS, 5F-ADB. The case illustrates the dangerous consequences that these unregulated substances pose to users, as well as the need for the consideration of comprehensive toxicological testing in patients with a history of substance use and sudden cardiac arrest, despite a negative drug screen.

Histologic evidence of repetitive blunt force abdominal trauma in four pediatric fatalities.

In cases of acute fatal child abuse, certain injuries, including cutaneous blunt force trauma, skull fractures, subdural hematomas, intra-abdominal hemorrhage, and retinal hemorrhages are common and well described in the pediatric and forensic literature. These gross findings at autopsy, when taken into consideration with scene investigation and interviews with caregivers, may indicate both a clear manner and cause of death. In such cases, the discovery of additional pathologic changes attributable to older abusive injuries helps support a conclusion of death due to inflicted trauma. We discuss four cases of fatal child abuse in which acute blunt force abdominal trauma was the cause of death. In each of these cases, careful examination with proper sectioning and microscopy of select abdominal tissues revealed that the acute tissue trauma was superimposed on a background of older, healing injury. This older trauma was characterized by classic histologic elements of tissue repair, including fibroblast proliferation, early scar formation, increased vascularity, and hemosiderin-laden macrophages. Iron and trichrome stains were used to confirm the presence of hemosiderin and fibrosis in all four cases, but the recognition of fibroblast proliferation and a reactive vascular pattern was best seen on routine hematoxylin and eosin stains. The gross and microscopic autopsy findings, along with available investigative information, established the diagnosis of chronic physical abuse.

Incidence of autopsy findings in unexpected deaths of children and adolescents.

Studies in various settings reveal that a significant percentage of autopsies demonstrate findings that were not previously clinically diagnosed. In the pediatric and adolescent age group, forensic examinations comprise a large percentage of total autopsies performed. We hypothesized that a similar number of previously undiagnosed findings would be present in this population and thus reviewed a series of autopsy reports from the Medical Examiners Office in the Arkansas Crime Laboratory. During 1997 through 1999, we performed 439 complete forensic autopsies on children and adolescents (age range 1 day to 19 years; median 18 months). Previously undiagnosed lesions were found in 173 (39%). Of these subjects, 68 (39%) had clinically significant pathology, 60 (35%) had insignificant pathology, and 45 (26%) had pathology of undetermined significance. Thirty-six subjects had lesions expected from a previously diagnosed condition. Of the total number of lesions found, 168 were inflammatory, 58 were congenital anomalies (48 unexpected), and 88 comprised miscellaneous other conditions. Infants <6 months of age were significantly more likely to have a previously undiagnosed lesson than children > 6 months (P <0.0001). Previously undiagnosed findings, mostly inflammatory, occur relatively frequently in pediatric and adolescent forensic autopsies and are more likely to occur in infants.