• J Forensic Leg Med · Nov 2017

    Review

    Post-mortem findings in 22 fatal Taxus baccata intoxications and a possible solution to its detection.

    • Guido Reijnen, Corine Bethlehem, Jacquo M B L van Remmen, Smit Hans J M HJM Rijnstate Hospital, Department of Pulmonology, Arnhem, The Netherlands., Matthijs van Luin, and Udo J L Reijnders.
    • Rijnstate Hospital, Department of Pulmonology, Arnhem, The Netherlands; Public Health Service, Department of Forensic Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Public Health Service, Department of Forensic Medicine, Arnhem, The Netherlands. Electronic address: guido_reijnen@hotmail.com.
    • J Forensic Leg Med. 2017 Nov 1; 52: 56-61.

    BackgroundThe yew (Taxus baccata) is a common evergreen tree containing the toxin taxine B. Between 42 and 91 g of yew leaf is lethal to a 70-kg adult. The objective of this article is to present an overview of findings in fatal yew intoxications.MethodsA search using MeSH terms was performed in PubMed for yew intoxications in the period between January 1960 and August of 2016.ResultsWe describe a total of 22 cases. Fatal intoxications can be divided into intoxications by leaves, by pulp, by bark and by yew tea. Recognizing yew tea intoxication is difficult since tea no longer contains any botanically recognisable parts. In autopsy and external examination no characteristic findings are reported, regarding the presence of parts of plants.ConclusionsIndications for yew tree intoxications at a post-mortem examination and autopsy are limited to finding parts of yew tree. The absence of recognisable parts can result in yew intoxications being overlooked. Therefore toxicological screening is recommended in unexplained deaths.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…