An Autopsy Case Report of Homicide by Methanol Intoxication With Pinkish Bilateral Putamina. (26th March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Takahashi, Motonori; Kondo, Takeshi; Yamasaki, Gentaro; Sugimoto, Marie; Yoshida, Haruhi; Harada, Kazuo; Matsumoto, Hiroshi; Asano, Migiwa; Ueno, Yasuhiro
• Is Part Of: American journal of forensic medicine & pathology. Volume 44:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 55
• Page End: 58
• Publication Date: 2023-03-26
• Subjects: methanol intoxication -- homicide -- formic acid -- microhemorrhage -- forensic pathology; Medical jurisprudence -- Periodicals; Forensic pathology -- Periodicals; 614.105
• DOI: 10.1097/PAF.0000000000000790
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-7910

Abstract

Abstract: Many deaths caused by methanol occur as a result of intentional suicide attempts or accidental ingestion, and several investigators have quantified methanol and formic acid in blood and organs. However, to the best of our knowledge, no reports have described regional differences in the concentration of methanol in the brain. A man in his 50s drank alcohol that had been deliberately contaminated with methanol by his wife, and he died of multiple-organ failure after 4 days of intensive medical treatment including hemodialysis. On medicolegal autopsy, cross sections of the brain showed scattered petechial hemorrhage in the brain stem and microscopic hemorrhage with congestion in the bilateral putamina, which showed pinkish discoloration. The concentrations of methanol, formic acid, and ethanol in autopsy samples were measured by headspace gas chromatography, revealing relatively high concentrations of residual methanol and formic acid in the brain (especially in the basal ganglia), although methanol had been eliminated from the blood. Even after 4 days of medical treatment, postmortem toxicological analysis of the brain tissue indicated methanol ingestion. The accumulation of formic acid and the consequent local metabolic acidosis may cause brain lesions.