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Volume 11, Issue 1 (January-Fabruary 2017)                   IJT 2017, 11(1): 49-54 | Back to browse issues page

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Mostafazadeh B, Ebrahimi R, Titidej V, Sanaei-Zadeh H. Frequency of Pathological Changes in Lungs of Bodies with Positive Postmortem Toxicology Results for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances . IJT 2017; 11 (1) :49-54
URL: http://ijt.arakmu.ac.ir/article-1-555-en.html
Frequency of Pathological Changes in Lungs of Bodies with Positive Postmortem Toxicology Results for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances
Babak Mostafazadeh1 , Reihaneh Ebrahimi1 , Vahid Titidej2 , Hossein Sanaei-Zadeh *3
1- Department of Forensic Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2- Specialist of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Razavi Khorasan Province-General Office of Legal Medicine, Mashhad, Iran.
3- Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. , sanaeizadeh@sums.ac.ir
Abstract:   (4906 Views)

Background: The pattern of drug abuse in Iran has dramatically changed in recent years, turning from the traditional opioids [opium, opium dross, and refined opium dross (Shireh)] into drugs with newer forms. The present study is aimed at investigating the frequency of pathological changes in the lungs of bodies with positive postmortem toxicology results for narcotics and psychotropic substances autopsied in the forensic dissection hall of Tehran, Iran [the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (LMO)].

Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive study. The sample consisted of 153 bodies, which had been referred to the LMO with positive results in postmortem toxicology for narcotics and psychotropic substances.

Results: We found that narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances were used more in men than women. Moreover, the average age of death due to drug use was 36 years old. In addition, methamphetamine was the mostly-used type of substances, and smoking was the most widely used method to use the drugs. Besides, the dominant consistency and color of the lungs of half of the bodies investigated were elastic brown-gray. Moreover, the most common pathologic changes observed in the lungs of the bodies investigated were congestion and edema.

Conclusion: Given the prevalence of pathological changes in the lungs of the examined bodies and congestion, edema, and pulmonary hemorrhage, the results of the present study can be particularly effective in determining the drug use and the resultant death in the absence of any previous records and/or a negative result of toxicology.

Keywords: Forensic, Lungs, Narcotics, Pathologic Changes, Psychotropic Substances.
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Type of Study: Research | Subject: General
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