Tramadol distribution in four postmortem cases
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Published on: September 23, 2015
B Levine1, V Ramcharitar, J E Smialek
1Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Abstract:
Four postmortem cases are reported in which the analgesic drug tramadol was identified. Tramadol is an alkaline extractable drug and elutes from a HP-5 column without the need for derivatization. Two metabolites of tramadol, N-desmethyl and O-desmethyl tramadol were also identified. Heart blood concentrations of tramadol in the four cases ranged from 0.17 to 4.4 mg/l. Tissue distribution of tramadol in the four cases failed to identify a sequestration site. None of the deaths reported were attributed to tramadol intoxication.
