Forensic Toxicology in Embalmed Human Remains
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Forensic Toxicology in Embalmed Human Remains
IRAS ID
128934
Contact name
Richard Lloyd
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cranfield University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
CURES/1734/2016, Cranfield University Research Ethics System
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
The embalming of human bodies creates significant difficulties for forensic toxicologists, pathologists and coroners. In the United Kingdom, the problem is encountered most frequently in the bodies of nationals nationals dying abroad, where drug involvement is suspected to have contributed to the death. In the case of deaths abroad, bodies are embalmed prior to repatriation to the UK, and consequently before detailed investigations into the cause of death can be undertaken on British soil. Although it is usually still possible to identify the presence of drugs, the constituent chemicals in embalming fluids affect not only the detection but also the rate of decay of the majority of both pharmaceutical and illicit drugs in blood and many other bodily tissues, making forensic evidence unsafe and, therefore, usually inadmissible in courts of law.
The purpose of this study is to test three particular fluids in the human body that do not receive a direct blood supply, in the expectation that they will not be contaminated during embalming, a process that involves the injection of preservative chemicals into the circulatory system of the body. This study, therefore, seeks to analyse vitreous humour from the eye, synovial fluid from the knee joints and cerebrospinal fluid from the spinal column. All three fluids have been described comprehensively in the anatomical literature, as well as being flagged in the forensic literature, and there is, thus, convincing primary evidence justifying their examination in this study.
For the study, which will form the first part of a PhD project, samples of vitreous humour, synovial fluid and cerebrospinal fluid will be obtained from UK university medical school anatomy departments. Samples will be obtained from cadavers that have been donated and properly consented for the purpose of scientific research, and which have been embalmed by those medical schools.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
17/NI/0034
Date of REC Opinion
14 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion