Analytical findings in a fatal poisoning with silver compound

Abstract

A 69-year-old male radio technician drank an unknown amount of a liquid and died within 5 h at a hospital. Mainly silver, potassium, and calcium, among other substances, were found in the residue of the liquid from the empty bottle by means of the spectrographic method (30.7% silver and 25.5% potassium using atomic absorption spectrometry [A.4S] method). The toxicological analysis of the postmortem material for silver performed by the flame AAS method (stomach, 2.43 μg/g; intestines, 1.12 μg/g; liver, 6.29 μg/g; kidney, 4.85 μg/g; spleen, 30.1 μg/g; heart, 10.8 μg/g; lung, 14.8 μg/g; and brain, 0.61 μg/g) confirmed fatal silver compound poisoning. The results were verified by the standard additions technique and recovery examination. However, no increase in the potassium concentrations was observed in the postmortem material. There have been no data in available literature on the distribution of silver in tissues in people after oral administration of silver salts.