Apparent post-mortem production of high levels of cyanide in blood

Abstract

Conflicting evidence can be found in the literature in regard to the levels of cyanide which may be produced in stored blood. Three cases are described where very high blood cyanide levels were found at post-mortem but where circumstances tended to preclude cyanide poisoning and where no source could be discovered. In one case, the cyanide was shown to be of post-mortem origin. These findings suggest that considerable caution should be exercised in attempting to interpret, in isolation, high cyanide levels in unpreserved blood samples.