Aspects related to analysis and medico-legal assessment in the context of the presence of synthetic cannabinoids in biological material based on the example of AB-CHMINACA

CEL PRACY: Przedmiotem pracy bylo opracowanie i walidacja metody oznaczania syntetycznego kannabinoidu AB-CHMINACA we krwi, a nastepnie jej weryfikacja w toksykologicznej praktyce sądowo-lekarskiej. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The case of a 41-year-old man admitted to hospital because of scheduled cardiac surgery was discussed. The man died after 12 hours of hospitalization. Based on collected evidence, AB-CHMINACA poisoning was suspected. The identification and determination of AB-CHMINACA in the man's blood was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry using electrospray ionization (HPLC-ESI-MS-MS), after prior solid phase extraction. WYNIKI: W probce krwi mezczyzny oznaczono AB-CHMINACA w stezeniu 0,5 ng/ml. CONCLUSIONS: In the interpretation of the case, it was concluded that AB-CHMINACA had no direct effect on the patient's death, the cause of which was ascertained as chronic heart failure secondary to aortic valve disease, decompensated by pneumonia. However, an indirect impact of side effects resulting from the use of synthetic cannabinoids cannot be ruled out. They might have exacerbated the man's disease process leading to sudden cardiac arrest caused by asystole.