benzoylecgonine and Alcoholic-Intoxication

This is the first report of fatal intoxication by fentanyl and cocaine outside the USA. The case involved a fall caused by toxic psychosis. The circumstantial, clinical, anatomical, histopathological and toxicological frame-work is interpreted.

Topics: Abdominal Pain; Adult; Alcoholic Intoxication; Cocaine; Ethanol; Fentanyl; Humans; Male; Narcotics; Psychoses, Substance-Induced; Suicide

Intestinal ischemia induced by cocaine abuse is a rare condition. To this date, only three cases have been described. The diagnosis of bowel ischemia should be suspected whenever a cocaine addict has severe abdominal pain. A pathological examination of the resected bowel segment was performed in one case, and the diagnosis was confirmed microscopically. However, the existence of pathologic alterations of the intestinal vessels was not confirmed. Why the intestinal injury is segmental and whether it is related to the dose ingested, the administration route, or the combination of cocaine with alcohol, caffeine, or marijuana remain unclear. The authors report one fatal case associated with cocaine-alcohol overdose. The postmortem examination demonstrated the existence of segmental intestinal ischemia. Microscopic study failed to demonstrate thrombosis in the mesenteric vessels; however, we found an unusual lesion affecting the arterioles located in the intestinal submucosa of the hemorrhagic areas.

Topics: Adult; Alcoholic Intoxication; Arterioles; Cocaine; Drug Overdose; Ethanol; Humans; Intestine, Small; Ischemia; Male; Substance-Related Disorders