Histochemistry based confirmation of the diagnosis of Copper Sulphate Poisoning: Case-Series

Abstract

The suspected suicidal death cases from copper sulphate poisoning is not uncommon in West Bengal as well as in some other parts of India. But due to extreme delay in laboratory confirmation report from Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) regarding presence of copper in toxic doses in the preserved samples the final opinion regarding cause of death in medico legal autopsy cases is kept pending. The histochemical method of rubeonic (rubeanic) acid staining of hepatocytes to determine the presence of copper in toxic level there, can be used as an alternative method to confirm copper sulphate poisoning. In this study, slides of liver biopsy from twelve autopsy cases of suspected copper sulphate poisoning are stained with rubeonic acid. All of them showed positive results indicating confirmation of copper sulphate poisoning. Hence, this method can be adopted as an alternative to toxicological analysis of copper sulphate poisoning.