Fatal oral methylphenidate intoxication with postmortem concentrations.

Abstract

Methylphenidate (MPD) is a widely prescribed stimulant used primarily for the treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Suicide attempts involving MPD ingestion have been well described; however, deaths attributed solely to MPD ingestion have not been reported. A 62-year-old woman was found dead on her floor. The only discrepancy in among her medication quantities was that >three hundred 10 mg MPD tablets were missing. Analysis utilizing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed elevated postmortem MPD peripheral and central blood, liver and vitreous humor concentrations. Considering both the central blood to peripheral blood ratio (0.89) and the liver to peripheral blood ratio (3.3), MPD does not appear subject to significant postmortem redistribution. With no other identifiable cause of death, we report what appears to be the first isolated MPD ingestion associated with a fatality.