Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39168895›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2025

First evidence in an oversea French department of the deadly risk of protonitazene use: about 5 post mortem cases.

Christophe Maruejouls, Alice Ameline, Laurie Gheddar, Cédric Mazoyer, Kati Teston, Frédéric Aknouche, Pascal Kintz

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In one paragraph

Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. 5-Methyl etodesnitazene human metabolism: LC-ESIAnalytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Christophe MaruejoulsLaboratoire SYNLAB Réunion, 19 ter rue Balbolia, Saint-Paul, 97460, France.
Alice AmelineInstitut de médecine légale, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67000, France.
Laurie GheddarInstitut de médecine légale, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67000, France.
Cédric MazoyerLaboratoire SYNLAB Réunion, 19 ter rue Balbolia, Saint-Paul, 97460, France.
Kati TestonLaboratoire SYNLAB Réunion, 19 ter rue Balbolia, Saint-Paul, 97460, France.
Frédéric AknoucheLaboratoire SYNLAB Réunion, 19 ter rue Balbolia, Saint-Paul, 97460, France.
Pascal KintzInstitut de médecine légale, 11 rue Humann, Strasbourg, 67000, France. pascal.kintz@wanadoo.fr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4174-5362

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Protonitazene is a synthetic benzoimidazole opioid of the nitazenes class, developed in the 1950s as an effective analgesic, but never released in the market due to severe side effects and major risk of dependence. The laboratory was involved in the determination of the cause of death for 5 subjects deceased in a French department of the Indian Ocean. The 5 victims were male, aged between 20 and 35 years. The first 2 victims were found dead in their prison cell and the 3 other victims were found dead in a squat. Therefore, we have developed and validated a specific procedure to identify and quantify the drug in post mortem specimens using LC-MS/MS. The procedure involves extraction of 0.5 mL fluid at pH 9.5 with a mixture of organic solvents in presence of 20 ng fentanyl-d

Indexed as

Analgesics, OpioidSubstance Abuse DetectionAdultChromatography, LiquidForensic ToxicologyFranceHumansLimit of DetectionMaleTandem Mass SpectrometryYoung AdultAnalgesics, OpioidBloodIntoxicationNitazenesNSOProtonitazene

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.