Fatal hypernatremia after using salt as an emetic--report of three autopsy cases

Although a plethora of reports on life-threatening complications of salt emesis has been published since the early 1960s, salt is still used to induce emesis in cases of intoxication in the clinical as well as in the domestic setting. We report three cases of fatal hypernatremia after salt was used as an emetic. All fatalities were subjected to medico-legal autopsy at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Hamburg, Germany. In all cases, symptoms of cerebral damage such as seizures, fever and somnolence developed within hours after salt ingestion. All individuals were admitted to hospital before their deaths. Here, severe hypernatremia (up to 245 mmol/l) was detected, and all patients died under the clinical picture of cerebral edema despite intensive medical treatment. At autopsy, unspecific signs of a central regulatory failure were present. Histology revealed crenated red blood cells and few venous microthrombi in internal organs. Neuropathological investigations yielded no specific results but confirmed fatal cerebral edema and excluded other cerebral causes of death. Viewing the results of clinical and post-mortem investigations together, death could clearly be attributed to excessive salt intake in all cases.