Garneau, Béatrice, Desharnais, Brigitte 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7373-656X, Beauchamp-Doré, Audrey, Lavallée, Catherine, Mireault, Pascal and Lajeunesse, André
(2019)
Challenges Related to Three Cases of Fatal Intoxication to Multiple Novel Synthetic Opioids.
Journal of Analytical Toxicology
.
ISSN 0146-4760
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/jat/bkz018
Abstract
In the last two decades, a large increase in opioid overdose death rates has been recorded in North America. This phenomenon, related to the misuse of prescription opioids, has been dubbed an “opioids crisis”. Recent years have seen the entrance of novel synthetic opioids (NSO) on the market, compounding the fatal intoxications issue. This brings several challenges for forensic toxicology laboratories: an increased number of cases, a large number of novel structurally similar compounds to include in screening analytical methods, the low concentration of drugs in biological fluids, and the challenging interpretation in the absence of sufficient literature. Three cases of fatal intoxication highlighting those challenges are presented, complete with post-mortem concentrations in cardiac blood, femoral blood and urine. Toxicological screening and quantitative analyses were performed on the biological specimens. In the first and second cases, furanylfentanyl, U-47700 and 4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (4-ANPP) were detected at similar concentrations in cardiac blood. In the third case, a total of seventeen different NSO were detected. All intoxications showed a combination of NSO and other drugs. These three cases appear to be the harbinger of an increased NSO prevalence in the province of Québec, Canada.
| Divisions: | Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Chemistry and Biochemistry |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Article |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Authors: | Garneau, Béatrice and Desharnais, Brigitte and Beauchamp-Doré, Audrey and Lavallée, Catherine and Mireault, Pascal and Lajeunesse, André |
| Journal or Publication: | Journal of Analytical Toxicology |
| Date: | 30 March 2019 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | 10.1093/jat/bkz018 |
| Keywords: | new psychoactive substances, novel synthetic opioids, intoxication, U-47700, furanylfentanyl |
| ID Code: | 986214 |
| Deposited By: | BRIGITTE DESHARNAIS |
| Deposited On: | 15 Jan 2020 20:36 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Mar 2020 00:00 |
| Related URLs: |
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