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Published:
Journal of Analytical Toxicology,
ISSN 0146-4760,
Volume 25, Number 7, October, pp. 612-615
Evaluation of an Onsite Alcohol Testing Device for Use
in Postmortem Forensic Toxicology*
David A. Engelhart† and Amanda J. Jenkins
The Office of Cuyahoga County Coroner, 11001 Cedar Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
The disposable QED® saliva alcohol test provides a very simple,
fast, and reliable means for quantitative onsite alcohol detection. The purpose
of this study was to determine if the QED test would be a useful tool for the
determination of postmortem ethanol levels in cases where a rapid result was
needed. QED results were compared with ethanol levels determined by headspace
GC analysis. Both saliva and vitreous humor specimens were used for the evaluation.
QED tests were initially attempted using the oral fluid from 50 individuals.
Of these cases, 17 of the tests were valid with 8 positive results. For 23 cases
the oral fluid was not attainable, and for 10 cases, the sample was contaminated
with blood making the tests invalid. The correlation between the oral fluid
results and the blood headspace GC analysis was poor (r = 0.8345) over the range
of 0.01–0.29 g/dL. Vitreous specimens were found to be the matrix of choice
for analyzing postmortem cases using the QED. Only 6 of 171 specimens were found
to be unsuitable. The QED results correlated well with the headspace
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