PMID- 26502870
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20160711
LR  - 20181202
IS  - 2284-0729 (Electronic)
IS  - 1128-3602 (Linking)
VI  - 19
IP  - 19
DP  - 2015 Oct
TI  - Mephedrone related fatalities: a review.
PG  - 3777-90
LID - 9615 [pii]
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Synthetic cathinones are an emerging class of designer drugs abused of 
      due to their psychostimulant and hallucinogenic effects, similar to those of 
      cocaine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), amphetamines and methamphetamines. 
      Mephedrone is a cathinone analogue (4-methyl aromatic analogue of methcathinone) 
      that was reported to be implicated in several fatalities in the media across 
      Europe, but only a few have actually resulted in mephedrone cited as the cause of 
      death. In this paper, we aim to systematically review analytically confirmed 
      cases of mephedrone-related fatalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant 
      scientific articles were identified from Medline, Cochrane Central, Scopus, Web 
      of Science, Science Direct, EMBASE and Google Scholar, through May 2015 using the 
      following keywords: "Mephedrone", "fatal intoxication," "fatalities", "acute 
      intoxication" and "death". RESULTS: In total, 10 citations met the criteria for 
      inclusion, representing 18 fatal cases with analytically confirmed mephedrone in 
      biological sample/s of the deceased. The death was attributed to mephedrone 
      intoxication in 9 cases (range of post-mortem blood mephedrone concentration: 
      1.33-22 mg/L), whereas multiple drug toxicity, involving mephedrone was cited as 
      cause of death in 6 cases (range of post-mortem blood mephedrone concentration: 
      0.04-1.3 mg/L). CONCLUSIONS: Data suggest that the abuse of mephedrone remains to 
      be a public health issue. Mephedrone appears to have a rather narrow therapeutic 
      window that makes its use dangerous. Dosages which supposedly fall within 
      recreational use limits could also lead to death when combined with other drugs 
      in certain circumstances. Forensic Toxicology laboratories must assess their 
      testing procedures to ensure they can achieve both an appropriate screening 
      regime and targeted quantitative analysis for the detection of mephedrone in 
      various biological matrices.
FAU - Busardo, F P
AU  - Busardo FP
AD  - Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopaedic Sciences, 
      Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. enrico.marinelli@uniroma1.it.
FAU - Kyriakou, C
AU  - Kyriakou C
FAU - Napoletano, S
AU  - Napoletano S
FAU - Marinelli, E
AU  - Marinelli E
FAU - Zaami, S
AU  - Zaami S
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Review
PL  - Italy
TA  - Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
JT  - European review for medical and pharmacological sciences
JID - 9717360
RN  - 0 (Alkaloids)
RN  - 0 (Central Nervous System Stimulants)
RN  - 0 (Designer Drugs)
RN  - 44RAL3456C (Methamphetamine)
RN  - 540EI4406J (cathinone)
RN  - 8BA8T27317 (mephedrone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Alkaloids/*adverse effects
MH  - Central Nervous System Stimulants/*adverse effects
MH  - Death
MH  - Designer Drugs/*adverse effects
MH  - Humans
MH  - Methamphetamine/administration & dosage/adverse effects/*analogs & derivatives
MH  - Substance-Related Disorders
EDAT- 2015/10/28 06:00
MHDA- 2016/07/12 06:00
CRDT- 2015/10/28 06:00
PHST- 2015/10/28 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2015/10/28 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2016/07/12 06:00 [medline]
AID - 9615 [pii]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2015 Oct;19(19):3777-90.