Autopsy Study of Death Due to Inhalation Poisons (Asphyxiants): A One Year Retrospective Study Done at Victoria Hospital, Bangalore

A poison may be defined as any substance which, if introduced into or brought in contact with a live body, produces disease, deformity, or death.1 Routes may be ingestion, injection, inhalation, or entry through any other orifices of the body. Poisoning may occur accidentally or intentionally as in suicide or homicide. Although poisoning by inhalation makes up the least common way of poisoning, most end up in sudden death. In urban setups like Central Bangalore, inhalational poisons are mainly due to occupational poisoning as seen in industries, sewage workers and in ill ventilated places (irrespirable gases). In both scenarios, most of the cases are lethal which makes this study important. A 12-month study was carried out at Victoria hospital attached to Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute. A total of 2,414 autopsies were done from July 2020 to June 2021, out of which 296 (12.26%) were poisoning cases and. Out of these 18 (6.08%) were due to inhalation of poisonous gases. In majority of cases, Forensic science laboratory reports revealed presence of poisonous substance / irrespirable gases with majority of the gender of the deceased being males. Most of the victims had died on spot or within short intervals after exposure, which points to sudden and high fatality characteristics of inhalation poisons. Maximum number of deaths occurred at workplace followed by accidental inhalation at place of residence.毒物可定义为任何一旦进入活体或与活体接触，即可引发疾病、畸形或死亡的物质¹。中毒途径包括经口摄入、注射、吸入，或通过身体其他孔道侵入机体。中毒可意外发生，也可因自杀、他杀等故意行为引发。尽管吸入性中毒是各类中毒中占比最低的类型，但此类中毒患者大多会发生猝死。在班加罗尔市中心这类城市区域，吸入性中毒主要源于职业暴露中毒，常见于工业场所、下水道作业环境以及通风不良的场所（窒息性有毒气体）。上述两类场景下的吸入性中毒病例大多具有致死性，这也凸显了本研究的重要意义。本研究在隶属于班加罗尔医学院及研究所的维多利亚医院开展，研究周期为12个月。2020年7月至2021年6月期间，共计完成2414例尸检，其中296例（12.26%）为中毒相关病例。在这296例中毒病例中，18例（6.08%）系吸入有毒气体所致。多数病例的法医实验室检测结果显示存在有毒物质或窒息性有毒气体，且死者以男性居多。大多数受害者在中毒暴露后当场死亡或于短时间内离世，这体现出吸入性毒物具有突发性与高致死性的特征。致死病例的发生场所以工作场所居多，其次为住宅内的意外吸入事件。