Tetrachloroethylene intoxication in an autoerotic fatality

This case report describes an accidental death due to the inhalation of tetrachloroethylene during an autoerotic episode. Tetrachloroethylene was administered from a can of Fix-A-Flat tire repair. Analysis of tetrachloroethylene was performed using headspace gas chromatography and electron capture detection. The blood tetrachloroethylene concentration of 62 mg/L was consistent with acute tetrachloroethylene intoxication.

A clinical pathologic study of four adult cases of acute mercury inhalation toxicity

We report four cases of fatal mercury vapor inhalation, a rare occurrence. The mercury vapor was released at a private home, where one of the occupants was smelting silver from dental amalgam containing an unknown amount of mercury. Within 24 hours of the incident, all occupants began having shortness of breath necessitating hospital admission. The clinical courses are briefly detailed; however, all included rapid deterioration with respiratory failure. Chest roentgenograms in all four cases were consistent with adult respiratory distress syndrome. All patients were treated with dimercaprol, a mercury chelator, but all died, with survival varying from 9 to 23 days postexposure. Autopsies were performed on all four patients. The lungs in all cases were heavy, firm, and airless. Histologic examination revealed severe diffuse alveolar damage, with variable amounts of fibrosis, conforming with acute lung injury in various stages of organization. Additional postmortem findings included acute proximal renal tubular necrosis, vacuolar hepatoxicity, and a spectrum of central nervous system alterations including multifocal ischemic necrosis, gliosis, and vasculitis.

Fatal thyrotoxic crisis

Graves' disease is a form of hyperthyroidism. A rare complication of Graves' disease is thyrotoxic crisis. Although the crisis is frequently fatal, it is a distinctly unusual cause of sudden death. We investigated the case of a young woman with Graves' disease who died suddenly. Radioimmunoassay tests of thyroid function were used to establish the diagnosis.