Rhabdomyolysis in drug-related deaths

Abstract

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: This study aims to detect myoglobin staining in the cases in which were suspected that intoxication was the cause of death. Materials and method: This study selected the drug-related death cases including those with toxic blood levels of substances. These drug-related death cases were classified into two groups: (1) suggestive of intoxication death group and (2) other causes of death group which was control group. The kidneys of all these cases were immunohistochemically stained with the myoglobin antibody for rhabdomyolysis diagnosis. Results: There were 50 drug-related deaths separated into 28 study cases and 22 control cases. The positive myoglobin stain was found in 17 cases (60.7%) in the study group and 5 cases (22.7%) in the control group. The difference between two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.007). Conclusions: Myoglobin detection in kidney by immunohistochemistry should be done to help for confirming the cause of deaths in these drug-related death cases.