A simple method for the determination of stimulant substances in postmortem blood: development, validation, and application in nearly 1000 forensic cases.
Forensic toxicology April 24, 2025 Letícia Birk, Bruno Pereira Dos Santos, Daniela Souza Ossanes et al. 2 citations
A simple method using protein precipitation and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed to detect 16 stimulant substances in postmortem blood samples from nearly 1000 Brazilian forensic cases. The method was validated according to ANSI/ASB Standard 036 and showed low quantification limits (5–20 ng/mL) and good precision and accuracy. Analysis of 971 samples found that about 20.1% tested positive for at least one substance, with benzoylecgonine (17.8%), ecgonine methyl ester (13.9%), and cocaine (13.0%) being most common. Significant matrix effects occurred only for EME and phenylephrine.