Abstract
We carried out a retrospective study on the presence of both alcohol and drugs in 179 forensic autopsy cases from traffic accidents in Kumamoto prefecture from 1999 to 2008. Blood-alcohol testing was performed in 149 cases, and alcohol was detected in 47 of these cases（32%）．A high alcohol positive rate was observed in bicycle（55 %）and pedestrian（44%）cases and in traffic accidents caused by driver/rider negligence in all types of accidents, which strongly suggests alcohol influences traffic accidents. TriageDOA® drug screening was performed in 90 cases from 2003 to 2008, with 8 cases（9%）presenting as positive. Tests were positive for benzodiazepines in six cases, barbiturates in three cases and opiates in one case. GC-MS drug screening of the 8 positive cases identified phenothiazine and several antiepileptic drugs that could not be detected by TriageDOA®. The possible effect of the detected drugs on the cause of accident was discussed in the 8 TriageDOA® positive cases. Drug analysis in the victims of traffic accidents was found to provide essential information to reconstruct the cases. However, further case information, including quantitative analysis of drugs, was necessary to evaluate the effect of drugs on the cause of traffic accidents.
