Hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide in blood of convicted dead in a polyurethane combustion: a proposition for the data analysis

Assessment of carboxyhemoglobin, hydrogen cyanide and methemoglobin in fire victims: a novel approach

“…Having established the toxic gas content in the blood of victims of fires involving nitrogenated plastics known to generate HCN and CO, it can indirectly be assumed that one or other of the gases was present in the atmosphere. It can be observed that in 30 of the 32 cases in the present episode and in those reported by Ferrari et al [16] and Zameckinc & Tam [13], the concentration of HCN in the victims' blood was higher than the level considered as lethal (Zone III).…”

“…Variable levels of COHb and HCN are reported in the literature on fire episodes involving polymers [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], some mentioning lethal concentrations of HCN and sublethal levels of COHb and others the reverse.…”

“…In an earlier publication [16] we were defined in order to diagnose the cause of death. At the time the forensic study was carried out, at the beginning of the '90s, knowledge on the subject was very limited and so little inroads were made into researching secondary factors such as those mentioned above and which play an important role in determining the cause of death.…”

Effect of combined exposure to carbon monoxide and cyanides in selected forensic cases

“…This change has been demonstrated occurs at lower blood cyanide levels. 12 For cyanidric acid, 1 mg/l has been shown to be the minimum lethal concentration: 13 nonetheless, even for this volatile toxic agent, cases have been documented where death occurred with lower concentrations of cyanide. 3 In our first case the elevated concentration of carboxyhaemoglobin (80%) is accompanied by an elevated concentration of cyanide (9 mg/l).…”

“…Despite this a recent study carried out on a group of subjects who died as a result of combined exposure to CO/HCN, which occurred in similar environmental conditions, attributes to cyanides an elective action in determining the cause of death and the negation of the assumption that the increase of the respiratory frequency induced by HCN can determine an increase in the CO uptake (in all subjects lower than 20%). 13 Such a hypothesis was already negated through experiments by Levin et al 16 who had shown that concentrations of 50% COHb are not sufficient to cause death without considering a combined action of both cyanide and monoxide. These authors showed that a decrease in the concentration of CO accompanied by an increase in HCN brings about a decrease in the percentage of saturation of the haemoglobin by CO, with a consequential lowering of the percentage of COHb in the samples analysed.…”