Laboratories that perform toxicology screens are challenged by the requirement to look for large numbers of target compounds in samples that contain complex matrix interferences. GC/MS methods are widely used and accepted for this analysis. Full-scan EI methods offer many advantages for broad-range screening, such as unlimited numbers of targets, full-spectrum identity confirmation, and library...

We report the development of a computer hardware and software that addresses the special needs of the forensic toxicology laboratory for real-time, data gathering, analysis, and retrieval. In addition to accessioning, work-list preparation, and result reporting, we implemented automatic test ordering based on patient/decedent case characteristics in the accessioning stage to provide reliable an...

Gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) plays an important role in the field of analytical toxicology. The identification of unknown compounds is very frequently undertaken with GC-MS and utilizing mass spectral libraries. Currently available libraries for analytical toxicology were compared for overlapping and uniqueness of their entries. Furthermore, the widely known ...

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Introduction This study compared beta-blockers reported by pilots with the medications found by postmortem toxicology analysis of specimens received from fatal aviation accidents between 1999 and 2015. Several studies have compared drugs using the standard approach: Compare the drug found by toxicology analysis with the drug reported by the pilot. This study uniquely examined first the pilot-re...

Existing proficiency-testing (PT) programs do not address the complexity of postmortem forensic toxicology. These programs do not include decomposed samples and solid tissues. Therefore, the Federal Aviation Administration in July 1991 started such a needed PT program. This program is used to: (i) professionally develop and maintain technical currency on a voluntary, interlaboratory, and self-e...

Benzodiazepines are frequently encountered in forensic toxicology. A literature search was conducted to find a simple method using electron impact-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (EI-GC-MS) to examine whole blood specimens for the most commonly encountered benzodiazepines in the United States. A recently published method was identified in the literature search and used as a starting point ...