Phencyclidine: a 5-year retrospective review from the New York City Medical Examiner's Office.

Stephen J deRoux, Anthony Sgarlato, Elizabeth Marker

New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner and Department of Forensic Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. sderoux@ocme.nyc.gov

Journal of forensic sciences 2011 May

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We report here a 5-year retrospective review of autopsy cases from the New York City Medical Examiner's Office that demonstrated phencyclidine (PCP) in the blood. There were a total of 138 cases. There were 52 deaths because of mixed drug intoxication: the blood PCP concentrations in these cases ranged from <1 to 598 ng/mL. There were 80 violent deaths in which PCP was quantified in the blood but was unrelated to the cause of death. There were five nonviolent deaths in which PCP exclusively was detected. In four of these, there were preexisting medical conditions that could also have contributed to death. In these, the highest PCP concentration was 361.3 ng/mL, a concentration lower than seven of the individuals in our violent death category. This suggests that lower concentrations may be fatal with comorbid conditions. © 2011 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Citation

Stephen J deRoux, Anthony Sgarlato, Elizabeth Marker. Phencyclidine: a 5-year retrospective review from the New York City Medical Examiner's Office. Journal of forensic sciences. 2011 May;56(3):656-9