• Francesco Paolo Busardò, Luigi Tritapepe, Angelo Montana, Francesca Indorato, Simona Zaami, and Guido Romano.
• Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopaedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 336, 00161 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fra.busardo@libero.it.
• Forensic Sci. Int. 2015 Nov 1; 256: 17-20.

AbstractParavertebral block (PVB) is the technique of injecting a local anesthetic solution alongside the vertebral column, close to where the spinal nerves emerge, resulting in unilateral somatic and sympathetic nerve blockade. Here is reported a fatal case involving a 60-year-old woman with spondylitis arthropathy, who developed cardiac and respiratory arrest 40min after receiving an accidental subarachnoid injection (L5-S1 bilaterally) of depomedrol lidocaine and levobupivacaine. A complete autopsy including histological and toxicological analyses was performed in order to establish the cause of death. Liquid/liquid extraction (LLE) and GC-MS analysis were performed according to a previously published method. Lidocaine and bupivacaine were detected both in blood, at concentrations of 14.8mg/L and 13.3mg/L respectively, and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at concentrations of 287.1mg/L and 464.2mg/L respectively. Both lidocaine and bupivacaine were also detected in the urine. The toxicological findings along with the autopsy allowed us to establish that the accidental subarachnoid injection of lidocaine and levobupivacaine had led to a progressive hypotension and normovolaemic shock caused by a severe ganglionic block, determining the patient's death. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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