Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34591183›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2022

Homicidal poisoning series in a nursing home: retrospective toxicological investigations in bone marrow and hair.

Théo Willeman, Nathalie Allibe, Laura Sauerbach, Anne Barret, Hélène Eysseric-Guerin, François Paysant, Françoise Stanke-Labesque, Virgine Scolan

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Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 37% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Théo WillemanLaboratory of Pharmacology, Pharmacogenetics and Toxicology, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France. twilleman@chu-grenoble.fr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0348-7171
Nathalie AllibeForensic Laboratory, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
Laura SauerbachClinical Forensic Medicine Department, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France.
Anne BarretForensic Laboratory, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
Hélène Eysseric-GuerinLaboratory of Pharmacology, Pharmacogenetics and Toxicology, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France.
François PaysantClinical Forensic Medicine Department, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France.
Françoise Stanke-LabesqueLaboratory of Pharmacology, Pharmacogenetics and Toxicology, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France.
Virgine ScolanClinical Forensic Medicine Department, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France.
Université Grenoble Alpes · FRCentre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Homicidal poisonings remain rare and can be difficult to detect, especially in the elderly or in medical settings. In this atypical poisoning series, a young nursing assistant purposely poisoned thirteen residents of a nursing home and killed ten of them. The medications used were a mix of psychotropic medications (cyamemazine, loxapine, tiapride, risperidone, and mirtazapine), under liquid formulation, which were inducing malaise and coma. The forensic investigation included analysis of blood, urine, hair, and bone marrow and exhumations of seven corpses up to 3 years after the inhumation. Hair collected from a hairbrush of a cremated victim have been analyzed. Bone marrow sample preparation was based on a liquid/liquid triple extraction. Hair were incubated after decontamination overnight at 55 °C in methanol. Segmentation was possible for seven samples, except for delayed exhumation samples (n = 4) and hairbrush hair sample (n = 1). The extracts were then analyzed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for unknown screening and using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for a targeted screening and quantification. Screenings revealed the presence of the same mix of psychotropic medications. Cyamemazine, mirtazapine, loxapine, tiapride, and risperidone hair concentrations were 6-17,458 pg/mg, 74-1271 pg/mg, 9-1346 pg/mg, 13-148 pg/mg, and 3-5 pg/mg, respectively. Cyamemazine bone marrow concentrations were 229 and 681 ng/g and 152-717 ng/mL in blood. Patients' medications were also identified and quantified. This poisoning series provide analytical data that could support subsequent toxicological result interpretation in similar forensic cases.

Indexed as

Bone MarrowTandem Mass SpectrometryAgedChromatography, LiquidForensic ToxicologyHairHumansNursing HomesRetrospective StudiesSubstance Abuse DetectionBone marrowForensic toxicologyHair analysisLiquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometryPoisoning

Identifiers

PMID34591183
OpenAlexW3201703228

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.