Psychological Autopsy and Necropsy of an Unusual Case of Suicide by Intravenous Toluene

Toluene (methylbenzene; volatile hydrocarbon) is an industrial solvent that causes major injury to the lungs; the organ being the first capillary bed encountered. We report an unusual case of suicide by a 24-year-old male, paramedical professional, with fatal outcome within 16 h of intentional, intr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of psychological medicine 2015-04, Vol.37 (2), p.233-235
Main Authors: Kulkarni, Ranganath R., Kumar RG, Hemanth, Kulkarni, Pratibha R., Kotabagi, Raghavendra B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdomen
Anorexia
Antibiotics
Ataxia
Cardiac arrhythmia
Case Report
Coma
Fatal
Hydrocarbons
inhalant- use disorder
intravenous injection
Lungs
Medical treatment
Metabolism
Oxygen therapy
Pain
Poisoning
Suicide
Toluene
Toxicology
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Summary:Toluene (methylbenzene; volatile hydrocarbon) is an industrial solvent that causes major injury to the lungs; the organ being the first capillary bed encountered. We report an unusual case of suicide by a 24-year-old male, paramedical professional, with fatal outcome within 16 h of intentional, intravenous self-administration of toluene, with clinical presentation of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Psychological autopsy revealed severe depressive disorder and solvent (inhalant) abuse, with marital disharmony as the precipitating stressor for suicide. Necropsy revealed diffuse congestion of internal organs like lungs and liver, epicardial petechial hemorrhages, and gastric hemorrhages. Treatment of toluene poisoning includes supportive care as no specific antidote is available. Early and aggressive management may be conducive to a favorable outcome with minimal residual pulmonary sequelae. Relevant literature of toluene poisoning was identified via PubMed, PubChem, ToxNet, Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), Embase, and PsycINFO. To our knowledge, this is the first case of suicide by intravenous administration of toluene in the literature.
ISSN:0253-7176
0975-1564
DOI:10.4103/0253-7176.155650