Forensic and Clinical Toxicology

Forensic toxicology refers to the use of toxicology for the purposes of the law. It is considered a hybrid of analytical chemistry and fundamental toxicology. The efforts or activities conducted to effectuate this purpose include but are not limited to the following  

Analytical toxicology in a clinical setting plays a role similar to that in forensic toxicology. Therefore, this chapter will be divided into forensic and clinical toxicology. 

A Textbook of Modern Toxicology, Third Edition, edited by Ernest Hodgson ISBN 0-471-26508-X Copyright 2004 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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Peters FT, Maurer HH (2002) Bioanalytical method validation and its implications for forensic and clinical toxicology - a review. Accred Qual Assur 7(11 ) 441 —449... 

A. S. Cwny, Advcmces in Forensic and Clinical Toxicology, Cleveland, Ohio, CRC Press, i972. 

Bioanalytical method validation and its implications for forensic and clinical toxicology - A review... 

The aim of our review is to present and compare the contents of the above mentioned publications on (bio)an-alytical method validation, and to discuss possible implications for forensic and clinical toxicology. 

Almost all of the above mentioned publications referred to bioanalytical methods for bioavailability, bioequivalence or pharmacokinetic studies. This field is of course very closely related to forensic and clinical toxicology, especially if only routine methods are considered. Therefore, it seems reasonable to base the discussion concerning method validation in toxicological analysis on the experiences and consensus described above and not to start the whole discussion anew. In the following, possible implications for forensic and clinical toxicology will be discussed. 

As already mentioned above, there are several sets of terminology in the literature. It is therefore strongly recommended to adopt, in principle, one of these sets for validation in forensic and clinical toxicology and add slight... 

The same approaches and criteria as those described above under Limits could be used. All approaches have been described to a lesser or greater extent in international publications, especially for the determination of LOD. Nevertheless, it seems important to reach consensus on this matter at least for forensic and clinical toxicology, as reliable detection of a substance is one of the most important issues in toxicological analysis. At this point it must be stressed that for the estimation of LOD and LLOQ via a special calibration curve, the calibration samples must only contain the analyte at concentrations close to LOD and LLOQ. Use of the calibration curve over the whole range may lead to overestimation of these limits. 

The determination of ethanol in blood is the parameter most frequently measured in forensic and clinical toxicology. It is based on the following reaction scheme ... 

Dresen S, Gergov M, Politi L, Halter C, Weinmann W, ESI-MS/MS library of 1,253 compounds for application in forensic and clinical toxicology. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2009 395(8) 2521-2526. 

Maurer HH (1998) Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in forensic and clinical toxicology. Journal of... 

Key words Liquid chromatography, Forensic and clinical toxicology. Tandem mass spectrometry. General unknown screening, Linear ion trap... 

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