Fatal chloroquine intoxication

Keller, Thomas; Schneider, Andrea; Lamprecht, Robert; Aderjan, Rolf; Tutsch-Bauer, Edith; Kisser, Wolfgang

« Previous Next »Forensic Science International
Volume 96, Issue 1 , Pages 21-28, 31 August 1998

Fatal chloroquine intoxication

Thomas Keller
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, Paris-Lodron-University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
- Corresponding author.
Andrea Schneider
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, Paris-Lodron-University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Robert Lamprecht
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, Paris-Lodron-University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Rolf Aderjan
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Voss-Str. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Edith Tutsch-Bauer
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, Paris-Lodron-University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Wolfgang Kisser
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, Paris-Lodron-University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

Received 27 March 1998; received in revised form 30 May 1998; accepted 16 June 1998.

Abstract

A suicidal ingestion of an unknown quantity of Resochin® (chloroquine) tablets is described. Although chloroquine is known since 1934, intoxications due to chloroquine overdose are rather rare in European countries. The authors report on a new and fast method of analysing and determining the chloroquine concentration in body fluids and postmortem specimens. The analytes were extracted from alkalinized samples into ethyl acetate before GC/MS analysis. The analyses of chloroquine were performed without any complex sample clean-up steps and, in addition, with little sample material. The proposed method resulted in a rapid procedure most useful in cases of deliberate poisoning with the anti-inflammatory and antimalarial drug chloroquine.

Keywords: Toxicology, Resochin®, Chloroquine, Overdose, Poison, Suicide, GC/MS