Forensic Toxicology in Embalmed Human Remains

Within the human body, vitreous humour, cerebrospinal fluid and synovial fluid are all contained within anatomical compartments that, by virtue of their relative avascularity, provide considerable protection from contamination during the embalming process. Analysing samples taken from embalmed medical school cadavers, and using an entirely novel headspace GC/MS method, the concentration of formaldehyde in all three fluids is shown to be significantly less than has previously been assumed in the literature. Using a newly-developed LC/Q-ToF method, the stability of fifteen drugs of forensic interest in representative concentrations of formaldehyde is then reported. The study is prompted by the fact that United Kingdom nationals are dying abroad with increasing frequency. Following repatriation of their bodies, an autopsy may be undertaken before permission for a funeral is granted. Although toxicological screening may form an important part of the investigative processes, there exists a large degree of uncertainty surrounding the reactive nature of formaldehyde, the main constituent of embalming fluids, with substances commonly implicated in drug-related deaths. It is the case, therefore, that in repatriated bodies, all of which are routinely embalmed before leaving the country in which death occurred, the presence of formaldehyde can cause significant problems for the forensic toxicologist. Although a number of papers in the past twenty years have investigated the challenges of drug detection in embalmed tissues, they have largely examined the problem from the perspective of histological samples preserved in formalin. While some of this work has, by implication, considered the analysis of samples taken from embalmed bodies, no studies have addressed directly the specific problems arising in the toxicological analysis of embalmed and repatriated bodies. The studies reported within the thesis demonstrate that there is considerable merit in undertaking further work on the usefulness of these fluids in the toxicological analysis of embalmed and repatriated nationals