{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T10:59:33Z","timestamp":1784631573694,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,16]],"date-time":"2021-02-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613433600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) are two common toxic products of combustion. HCN concentrations of fire victims are not routinely determined in most legal medicine services in Romania. We present the case of a room fire victim in which we evaluated the concentrations of HCN and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), their contribution to the mechanism of death, and the possibility that HCN concentration can be interpreted as vital sign. COHb was determined by spectrophotometry. HCN was spectrophotometrically determined with ninhydrin in postmortem blood samples after its removal with 20% phosphoric acid and uptake into a solution of potassium carbonate. The presence of ethyl alcohol was determined by gas chromatography. The COHb concentration was 6.15%, while the blood HCN concentration was 1.043 \u00b5g \u00d7 mL\u22121 and the total HCN was 1.904 \u00b5g \u00d7 ml\u22121. A blood alcohol content of 4.36 g\u2030 and a urine alcohol content of 5.88 g\u2030 were also found. Although the fire produced a considerable amount of soot, and there were signs of inhalation of soot particles, the COHb level cannot be interpreted as a vital sign. Toxic concentrations of HCN and total HCN can be interpreted as a vital sign and indicates a contributive effect of HCN in the mechanism of death.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxics9020036","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,16]],"date-time":"2021-02-16T04:23:10Z","timestamp":1613449390000},"page":"36","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Toxic Blood Hydrogen Cyanide Concentration as a Vital Sign of a Deceased Room Fire Victim\u2014Case Report"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1516-6981","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Tabian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500019 Brasov, Romania"},{"name":"Brasov County Legal Medicine Service, 500073 Brasov, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5506-0313","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gabi","family":"Drochioiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Chemistry, \u201cAlexandru Ioan Cuza\u201d University of Iasi, 700605 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simona Irina","family":"Damian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, 700115 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nona","family":"Girlescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, 700115 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oana","family":"Toma Gradinaru","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brasov County Legal Medicine Service, 500073 Brasov, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sebastian Ionut","family":"Toma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500019 Brasov, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Bulgaru Iliescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, 700115 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Medical and biological factors affecting mortality in elderly residential fire victims: A narrative review of the literature","volume":"3","author":"Eggert","year":"2017","journal-title":"Scars Burn. Heal."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1097\/MEJ.0b013e328357170b","article-title":"Cyanide poisoning by fire smoke inhalation","volume":"20","author":"Anseeuw","year":"2013","journal-title":"Eur. J. Emerg. Med."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2017.05.018","article-title":"Analysis of fire deaths in Poland and influence of smoke toxicity","volume":"277","author":"Purser","year":"2017","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. 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