Clinical Toxicological Follow-Up Analysis of a Suicide Attempt Using Chloroquine

Chloroquine, a drug approved for the treatment of malaria, is frequently used to commit suicide. We report about a suicide attempt by ingesting a high dose of chloroquine in combination with other drugs. Findings of the emergency toxicology screening of blood and urine and those of the follow-up analyses in blood are discussed. Systematic toxicological analysis approaches revealed the presence of chloroquine, butylscopolamine, cafedrine, diazepam, lorazepam, metoclopramide, nordazepam, norephedrine and 11-nor-9-carboxy-∆9-tetrahydroxycannabinol in blood and/or urine of the subject. Suicide due to a combination of chloroquine and benzodiazepines is known as the so-called "Kusch method" in German-speaking countries. The initial chloroquine plasma concentration was determined to be 9.6 mg/L after precipitation and analysis by liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. The analytical procedure was developed ad hoc and validated in accordance with international recommendations. Clinical toxicological follow-up analyses in blood were performed over a period of 3 weeks. The chloroquine concentration remained above the therapeutic range (up to 0.5 mg/L) for 2 weeks and dropped to 0.3 mg/L after 3 weeks. Furthermore, monodesethylchloroquine (MDCQ) and bisdesethylchloroquine (BDCQ) were determined to be the most abundant metabolites in plasma. Within 3 weeks, the area ratios of MDCQ and chloroquine increased 4-fold (from 0.090 to 0.350), and those of BDCQ and chloroquine increased 100-fold (from 0.002 to 0.218). This information may help to estimate the chloroquine excretion progress in the future.