A fatality due to accidental PineSol ingestion.

The case history and toxicological findings of a fatal PineSol intoxication are presented. An 89-year-old white female with Alzheimer's disease accidentally drank PineSol and was subsequently brought to the hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Significant autopsy findings included acute erosive gastritis. There appeared to be no aspiration of PineSol into the lungs. Isopropanol along with 1-alpha-terpineol are the two major toxic ingredients of PineSol. The toxicological screening and quantitiation of 1-alpha-terpineol in postmortem fluids was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using a simple one-step extraction. Postmortem blood, urine, and gastric levels of 1-alpha-terpineol were 11.2 mg/L, 5.76 mg/L, and 15.3 g/L, respectively. Postmortem blood, vitreous humor, urine, and gastric acetone concentrations were 25, 31, 33, and 28 mg/dL. Postmortem concentrations of isopropanol were less than 10 mg/dL in the blood, vitreous humor, urine, and gastric contents. The cause of death was ruled acute 1-alpha-terpineol intoxication due to accidental ingestion of PineSol, presumably caused by confusion related to Alzheimer's disease.

A fatality related to the veterinary anesthetic telazol.

A 45-year-old male veterinarian was found dead in bed. Police investigation showed no evidence of trauma or other suspicious circumstances. Autopsy was unremarkable except for cardiomegaly and hepatosplenomegaly. Toxicological analysis revealed the presence of Telazol and ketamine. Telazol is a veterinary anesthetic agent that is composed of equal parts of tiletamine and zolazepam. Tiletamine is a disassociative anesthetic similar to ketamine and phencyclidine, and zolazepam is a diazepine derivative tranquilizer used to minimize the muscle hypertonicity and seizures associated with tiletamine. Quantitation of tiletamine and zolazepam was performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the selected ion monitoring mode following a solid-phase extraction. Postmortem blood, urine, and liver concentrations of tiletamine were 295 ng/mL, 682 ng/mL, and 196 ng/g, respectively, whereas postmortem concentrations of zolazepam for the same tissues were 1.71 microg/mL, 1.33 microg/mL, and 15.5 microg/g, respectively. Blood and urine ketamine levels were 37 ng/mL and 381 ng/mL, respectively. The cause of death was ruled an acute mixed drug intoxication of tiletamine, zolazepam, and ketamine with the manner of death ruled as unclassified.