A Case of Death After Glue Sniffing

A 25-year-old male, a thinner and/or glue sniffer, was found dead in the bathtub of his house approximately 24 hr after abusing a glue. As the cause of death was unknown, an autopsy of the deceased was performed. The ingredients of the glue in the tissue and organs were analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatographymass spectrometry. Toluene, n-hexane and methylcyclopentane in the mesenterial fat were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the toluene concentration analyzed by gas chromatography was 10.9 μ,gig in the blood and 50.0 μ,gig in the brain. The cause of death was considered to be suffocation or acute cardiac failure under the effect of toluene.