Abstract
The analysis of drugs of abuse in human specimens is essential in forensic medicine. This study evaluated the use of Cozart DDS for postmortem screening of some drugs of abuse in vitreous humor (VH) prior to forensic autopsies. The Cozart DDS is an on-site drug detection system that has been validated for oral fluid. Seventy-one VH specimens were obtained from cadavers. Causes of death included injury, drug poisoning, natural disorders, and traffic accidents. The samples were tested for cannabis, cocaine, opiate, amphetamine, and methamphetamine. Thirty-three of 71 samples were positive for drugs of abuse (42% for cocaine, 28% for cannabis, 26% for opiates, and 3% for methamphetamine). The positive specimens for opiates and methamphetamine were reexamined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS); benzoylecgonine (cocaine product) was detected by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). All positive results for cocaine or its products and opiates by the Cozart test were confirmed by MS analysis, whereas one positive result for methamphetamine was negative by MS. The Cozart DDS system is generally a useful screening test for VH specimens prior to autopsies, because of its simplicity and rapidness.
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