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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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the dedication and skill of the radiographers and mortuary technicians at our institute, who performed the scanning procedure and assisted in the autopsy, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Saiful Nizam Bin Abdul Rashid

  2. Department of Forensic Medicine, National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Saiful Nizam Bin Abdul Rashid & Amir Saad Abdul Rahim

  3. Center of Forensic Imaging, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael J. Thali & Patricia M. Flach

  4. Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Patricia M. Flach

Authors
  1. Saiful Nizam Bin Abdul Rashid
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  2. Amir Saad Abdul Rahim
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  3. Michael J. Thali
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  4. Patricia M. Flach
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Correspondence to Saiful Nizam Bin Abdul Rashid.

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Bin Abdul Rashid, S.N., Rahim, A.S.A., Thali, M.J. et al. Death by ‘ice’: fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 9, 82–87 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-012-9395-1

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