Case report: An unusual suicide poisoning with butane gas

Luis, M.J. De; García, Yennith; Uroz, V.; Álvarez, Óscar Fernández; Sánchez, J. A. Sánchez

doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2010.03.921

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Throughout the past decades, some of fatal cases related to butane inhalation amongst victims who accidentally or deliberately inhaled butane have been reported. Even if some were proved to be accidental and others suicidal , the poisoning was well described. We note that a lethal intoxication can be also due to a criminal act.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The chemical composition of the commercial “butane gas” is butane (60%), isobutene (30%), propane (9%), and ethane (1%). Initially, halogenated hydrocarbons were most commonly used as propellants in aerosol , but in 1978, halogenated hydrocarbons in aerosol products were banned because of the apparent damage to the earth's ozone layer. Following this law, the banned compounds were replaced by aliphatic hydrocarbons such as propane, iso‐butane, n‐butane, and iso‐pentane .…”

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confidence: 99%

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A Rare Case of Poisoning with a Volatile Substance: Quantitative Determination of n‐Butane in Postmortem Tissue

Hiquet¹,

Christin²,

Tovagliaro³

et al. 2016

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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Poisoning with volatile substances remains exceptional. Authors report the case of a married couple who were found in a car with a butane gas bottle: the woman was dead and her husband alleged it was an unsuccessful suicide pact. A specific research of volatile substances on postmortem samples with headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry following a quantitative determination was performed. The n-butane concentrations detected were composed of 610 μg/L (cardiac blood), 50 μg/kg (brain), 134 μg/kg (lungs), 285 μg/kg (liver), and 4090 μg/kg (heart) and were compatible with the rare lethal concentrations evoked in the literature. The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation through n-butane criminal poisoning. Authors recommendation therefore is to take samples immediately and place them in properly sealed containers and hence analyzing the samples as soon as possible after collecting them or storing them under -30°C (-22°F) if analyses cannot be performed immediately.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%