{"title":"An autopsy case of a young man with a single overdose of dextromethorphan","authors":"Kyoko Hasuwa, Noboru Inoue, Shuhei Tamura, Ikuko Terazawa, Katsuya Yuui, Risa Kudo, Shogo Kasuda","doi":"10.1016/j.legalmed.2024.102470","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Dextromethorphan (DXM) is an over-the-counter antitussive that is commonly used worldwide. Recently, DXM has become popular among young individuals because of its euphoric, hallucinogenic, and dissociative properties. Despite an increasing number of patients with DXM addiction, fatal cases of DXM poisoning are rare, and patients with fatalities often ingest DXM along with other drugs. Here, we report an autopsy case in which DXM was detected without multidrug ingestion. A man in his early twenties was found dead at home; no external injuries or obvious internal lesions were found during the autopsy. The toxicological analyses revealed extremely high concentrations of DXM, and no drugs other than DXM were detected. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report to describe a death caused by a single overdose of DXM in Japan. Public awareness regarding the risks associated with a massive ingestion of DXM should be increased.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49913,"journal":{"name":"Legal Medicine","volume":"70 ","pages":"Article 102470"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Legal Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1344622324000804","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, LEGAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Dextromethorphan (DXM) is an over-the-counter antitussive that is commonly used worldwide. Recently, DXM has become popular among young individuals because of its euphoric, hallucinogenic, and dissociative properties. Despite an increasing number of patients with DXM addiction, fatal cases of DXM poisoning are rare, and patients with fatalities often ingest DXM along with other drugs. Here, we report an autopsy case in which DXM was detected without multidrug ingestion. A man in his early twenties was found dead at home; no external injuries or obvious internal lesions were found during the autopsy. The toxicological analyses revealed extremely high concentrations of DXM, and no drugs other than DXM were detected. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report to describe a death caused by a single overdose of DXM in Japan. Public awareness regarding the risks associated with a massive ingestion of DXM should be increased.
期刊介绍：
Legal Medicine provides an international forum for the publication of original articles, reviews and correspondence on subjects that cover practical and theoretical areas of interest relating to the wide range of legal medicine.
Subjects covered include forensic pathology, toxicology, odontology, anthropology, criminalistics, immunochemistry, hemogenetics and forensic aspects of biological science with emphasis on DNA analysis and molecular biology. Submissions dealing with medicolegal problems such as malpractice, insurance, child abuse or ethics in medical practice are also acceptable.
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