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Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy

Fatal acute methamphetamine (MA) poisoning in cases of internal drug trafficking is rarely described in the literature. This case study reports an MA 'body packer' who died from fatal methamphetamine intoxication due to leaking drug packages in the alimentary tract. The deceased was examin...

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Main Authors: Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam, Abdul Rahim, Amir Saad, Thali, Michael J., Flach, Patricia Mildred
Format: Article
Published: Springer 2013
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29534/
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spelling my.upm.eprints.295342015-12-08T11:56:24Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29534/ Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam Abdul Rahim, Amir Saad Thali, Michael J. Flach, Patricia Mildred Fatal acute methamphetamine (MA) poisoning in cases of internal drug trafficking is rarely described in the literature. This case study reports an MA 'body packer' who died from fatal methamphetamine intoxication due to leaking drug packages in the alimentary tract. The deceased was examined by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), and the results were correlated to subsequent autopsy and toxicological findings. The deceased was arrested by the police when he was found disoriented in the city of Kuala Lumpur. He was transferred to the emergency department on suspicion of drug abuse. The initial drug screening was reactive for amphetamines. Shortly after admission to the hospital, he died despite rigorous resuscitation attempts. The postmortem plain chest and abdominal radiographs revealed multiple suspicious opacities in the gastrointestinal tract attributable to body packages. An unenhanced whole body PMCT revealed twenty-five drug packages, twenty-four in the stomach and one in the transverse colon. At least two were disintegrating, and therefore leaking. The autopsy findings were consistent with the PMCT results. Toxicology confirmed the diagnosis of fatal methamphetamine intoxication. Springer 2013-03 Article PeerReviewed Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam and Abdul Rahim, Amir Saad and Thali, Michael J. and Flach, Patricia Mildred (2013) Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, 9 (1). pp. 82-87. ISSN 1547-769X; ESSN: 1556-2891 10.1007/s12024-012-9395-1
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
description Fatal acute methamphetamine (MA) poisoning in cases of internal drug trafficking is rarely described in the literature. This case study reports an MA 'body packer' who died from fatal methamphetamine intoxication due to leaking drug packages in the alimentary tract. The deceased was examined by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), and the results were correlated to subsequent autopsy and toxicological findings. The deceased was arrested by the police when he was found disoriented in the city of Kuala Lumpur. He was transferred to the emergency department on suspicion of drug abuse. The initial drug screening was reactive for amphetamines. Shortly after admission to the hospital, he died despite rigorous resuscitation attempts. The postmortem plain chest and abdominal radiographs revealed multiple suspicious opacities in the gastrointestinal tract attributable to body packages. An unenhanced whole body PMCT revealed twenty-five drug packages, twenty-four in the stomach and one in the transverse colon. At least two were disintegrating, and therefore leaking. The autopsy findings were consistent with the PMCT results. Toxicology confirmed the diagnosis of fatal methamphetamine intoxication.
format Article
author Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam
Abdul Rahim, Amir Saad
Thali, Michael J.
Flach, Patricia Mildred
spellingShingle Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam
Abdul Rahim, Amir Saad
Thali, Michael J.
Flach, Patricia Mildred
Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy
author_facet Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam
Abdul Rahim, Amir Saad
Thali, Michael J.
Flach, Patricia Mildred
author_sort Abdul Rashid, Saiful Nizam
title Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy
title_short Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy
title_full Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy
title_fullStr Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy
title_full_unstemmed Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy
title_sort death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (pmct) and validated by autopsy
publisher Springer
publishDate 2013
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29534/
_version_ 1643829789191045120
score 13.211869

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