Online Resource 1. Data Items Extracted from the Selected Studies Involving Toxicological

Online Resource 1. Data items extracted from the selected studies involving toxicological analyses (N = 46)

First author/s (year of publication) / Country / Study type (number of participants) / Transported drug/s / Toxicological analyses
Wetli and Mittlemann (1981) [1] / US / Case series (N = 11) / Cocaine / In vivo and post-mortem blood concentration
Joynt and Mikhael (1985) [2] / Canada / Case report (N = 1) / Heroin / Post-mortem blood, liver, and bile concentration
Amon et al. (1986) [3] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Winek et al. (1987) [4] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo blood concentration
Gherardi et al. (1988) [5] / France / Retrospective (N = 120) / 68 Heroin/52 Cocaine / In vivo urine concentration
Introna and Smialek (1989) [6] / US / Case series (N = 7) / 5 Cocaine/2 Heroin / Post-mortem blood and stomach concentration
Watson et al. (1991) [7] / UK / Case report (N = 1) / Amphetamine / In vivo blood concentration
Nichols and Davis (1992) [8] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
John et al. (1992) [9] / Switzerland / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo urine concentration
Meatherall and Warren (1993) [10] / Canada / Case report (N = 1) / Hashish oil / In vivo urine concentration
Malbrain et al. (1994) [11] / Belgium / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo blood and urine concentration
Patel (1996) [12] / UK / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Wetli et al. (1997) [13] / US / Case series (N = 10) / Heroin / Post-mortem blood concentration
Heinemann et al. (1998) [14] / Germany / Case series (N = 4) / 2 Cocaine/1 Heroin/
1 Amphetamine / Post-mortem blood, urine, liver, kidney, stomach, and brain concentration
Nihira et al. (1998) [15] / Japan / Case series (N = 9) / 5 Cocaine/2 Heroin/1 Opium/
1 Marijuana / In vivo urine concentration
Farah and Ghayad (1999) [16] / Lebanon / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo blood and urine concentration
Yanai and Hiss (1999) [17] / Israel / Case series (N = 2) / Cocaine / In vivo blood concentration
Hutchins et al. (2000) [18] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Heroin / Post-mortem blood and stomach concentration
Klein et al. (2000) [19] / Israel / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Stichenwirth et al. (2000) [20] / Austria / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood and brain concentration
Fineschi et al. (2002) [21] / Italy / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood, urine, and brain concentration
Furnari et al. (2002) [22] / Italy / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood, urine, bile, and brain concentration
Gill and Graham (2002) [23] / US / Retrospective (N = 50) / 42 Heroin/4 Cocaine/
4 Heroin + Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Fucci (2004) [24] / Italy / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood, urine, and gastric concentration
Kashani and Ruha (2004) [25] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Methamphetamine / In vivo blood concentration
Havis et al. (2005) [26] / UK / Retrospective (N = 16) / Cocaine/Amphetamine/Cannabis / Post-mortem blood concentration
Koehler et al. (2005) [27] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Sein Anand et al. (2005) [28] / Poland / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo urine concentration
Cordero et al. (2006) [29] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Sribanditmongkol et al. (2006) [30] / Thailand / Retrospective (N =2) / Heroin / Post-mortem blood concentration
Takekawa et al. (2007) [31] / Japan / Case report (N = 1) / Methamphetamine / Post-mortem blood, urine, liver, and gastric concentration
Marchei et al. (2008) [32] / Italy / Case series (N = 64) / 63 Cocaine/1 Heroin / In vivo urine concentration
Modelli et al. (2008) [33] / Brazil / Retrospective (N = 27) / 20 Marijuana/4 Antipsychotics/
3 Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Dinis-Oliveira et al. (2009) [34] / Portugal / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo and post-mortem blood concentration
Li et al. (2009) [35] / China / Case report (N = 1) / Methamphetamine / Post-mortem blood, urine, liver, and gastric concentration
Barbera et al. (2010) [36] / Italy / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood, urine, bile, and brain concentration
De Prost et al. (2010) [37] / France / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Njau et al. (2010) [38] / Greece / Case report (N = 1) / Heroin / Post-mortem blood concentration
Hantson et al. (2011) [39] / Belgium / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo blood and urine concentration
Spadari et al. (2011) [40] / France / Case series (N = 2) / Cannabis / In vivo blood and urine concentration
Wilcher (2011) [41] / Australia / Case series (N = 5) / 3 Heroin/1 Cocaine/
1 Methadone + BDZ / Post-mortem blood concentration
Bin Abdul Rashid et al. (2013) [42] / Malaysia / Case report (N = 1) / Methamphetamine / Post-mortem blood concentration
Uekusa et al. (2013) [43] / Japan / Case series (N = 3) / Methamphetamine / In vivo blood and urine concentration
Hantson et al. (2014) [44] / Belgium / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / In vivo urine concentration
Kumral et al. (2014) [45] / Turkey / Case report (N = 1) / Heroin / Post-mortem blood concentration
Shields et al. (2015) [46] / US / Case report (N = 1) / Cocaine / Post-mortem blood concentration

Abbreviations: BDZ = benzodiazepines.

References

1)  Wetli CV, Mittlemann RE (1981) The “body packer syndrome” – toxicity following ingestion of illicit drugs packaged for transportation. J Forensic Sci 26(3):492-500.

2)  Joynt BP, Mikhael NZ (1985) Sudden death of a heroin body packer. J Anal Toxicol 9(5):238-240.

3)  Amon CA, Tate LG, Wright RK, Matusiak W (1986) Sudden death due to ingestion of cocaine. J Anal Toxicol 10(5):217-218.

4)  Winek CL, Wahba WW, Rozin L, Janssen JK (1987) An unusually high blood cocaine concentration in a fatal case. J Anal Toxicol 11(1):43-46.

5)  Gherardi RK, Baud FJ, Leporc P, Marc B, Dupeyron JP, Diamant-Berger O (1988) Detection of drugs in the urine of body-packers. Lancet 1(8594):1076-1078.

6)  Introna F Jr, Smialek JE (1989) The "mini-packer" syndrome. Fatal ingestion of drug containers in Baltimore, Maryland. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 10(1):21-24.

7)  Watson CJ, Thomson HJ, Johnston PS (1991) Body-packing with amphetamines--an indication for surgery. J R Soc Med 84(5):311-312.

8)  Nichols GR 2nd, Davis GJ (1992) Body packing with a twist. Death of a salesman. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 13(2):142-145.

9)  John H, Schoenenberger R, Renner N, Ritz R (1992) Cocaine poisoning from transport of the drug in the gastrointestinal tract (the body-packer syndrome). Dtsch Med Wochenschr 117(51-52):1952-1955.

10)  Meatherall RC, Warren RJ (1993) High urinary cannabinoids from a hashish body packer. J Anal Toxicol 17(7):439-440.

11)  Malbrain ML, Neels H, Vissers K, Demedts P, Verbraeken H, Daelemans R, Wauters A (1994) A massive, near-fatal cocaine intoxication in a body-stuffer. Case report and review of the literature. Acta Clin Belg 49(1):12-18.

12)  Patel F (1996) A high fatal postmortem blood concentration of cocaine in a drug courier. Forensic Sci Int 79(3):167-174.

13)  Wetli CV, Rao A, Rao VJ (1997) Fatal heroin body packing. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 18:312-318.

14)  Heinemann A, Miyaishi S, Iwersen S, Schmoldt A, Püschel K (1998) Body-packing as cause of unexpected sudden death. Forensic Sci Int 92(1):1-10.

15)  Nihira M, Hayashida M, Ohno Y, Inuzuka S, Yokota H, Yamamoto Y (1998) Urinalysis of body packers in Japan. J Anal Toxicol 22(1):61-65.

16)  Farah E, Ghayad E (1999) Acute cocaine intoxication in a smuggler. One case report and a review of the literature. J Med Liban 47(3):198-200.

17)  Yanai O, Hiss J (1999) Cocaine "mules". Harefuah 136(3):190-193.

18)  Hutchins KD, Pierre-Louis PJ, Zaretski L, Williams AW, Lin RL, Natarajan GA (2000) Heroin body packing: three fatal cases of intestinal perforation. J Forensic Sci 45(1):42-47.

19)  Klein C, Balash Y, Pollak L, Hiss J, Rabey MJ (2000) Body packer: cocaine intoxication, causing death, masked by concomitant administration of major tranquilizers. Eur J Neurol 7(5):555-558.

20)  Stichenwirth M, Stelwag-Carion C, Klupp N, Hönigschnabl S, Vycudilik W, Bauer G, Risser D (2000) Suicide of a body packer. Forensic Sci Int 108(1):61-66.

21)  Fineschi V, Centini F, Monciotti F, Turillazzi E (2002) The cocaine “body stuffer” syndrome: a fatal case. Forensic Sci Int 126:7-10.

22)  Furnari C, Ottaviano V, Sacchetti G, Mancini M (2002) A fatal case of cocaine poisoning in a body packer. J Forensic Sci 47(1):208-210.

23)  Gill JR, Graham SM (2002) Ten years of ‘‘body packers’’ in New York City: 50 deaths. J Forensic Sci 47:843-846.

24)  Fucci N (2004) Phenacetin and cocaine in a body packer. Forensic Sci Int 141(1):59-61.

25)  Kashani J, Ruha AM (2004) Methamphetamine toxicity secondary to intravaginal body stuffing. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol 42(7):987-989.

26)  Havis S, Best D, Carter J (2005) Concealment of drugs by police detainees: lessons learned from adverse incidents and from 'routine' clinical practice. J Clin Forensic Med 12(5):237-241.

27)  Koehler SA, Ladham S, Rozin L, Shakir A, Omalu B, Dominick J, Wecht CH (2005) The risk of body packing: a case of a fatal cocaine overdose. Forensic Sci Int 151(1):81-84.

28)  Sein Anand J, Chodorowski Z, Masal A, Nowak-Banasik L (2005) Cocaine smuggling in the gastrointestinal tract resulting in mechanical pylorostenosis. Przegl Lek 62(6):499-500.

29)  Cordero DR, Medina C, Helfgott A (2006) Cocaine body packing in pregnancy. Ann Emerg Med 48(3):323-325.

30)  Sribanditmongkol P, Supasingsiripreecha W, Thampitak S, Junkuy A (2006) Fatal heroin intoxication in body packers in northern Thailand during the last decade: two case reports. J Med Assoc Thai 89(1):106-110.

31)  Takekawa K, Ohmori T, Kido A, Oya M (2007) Methamphetamine body packer: acute poisoning death due to massive leaking of methamphetamine. J Forensic Sci 52(5):1219-1222.

32)  Marchei E, Colone P, Nastasi GG, Calabrò C, Pellegrini M, Pacifici R, Zuccaro P, Pichini S (2008) On-site screening and GC-MS analysis of cocaine and heroin metabolites in body-packers urine. J Pharm Biomed Anal 48(2):383-387.

33)  Modelli M, Frade R, Arantes LC (2008) Dissimulação de drogas no corpo humano para efeitos de tráfico. Brasilia Med 45:256-263.

34)  Dinis-Oliveira RJ, Magalhães T, Carvalho F, Santos A (2009) A cocaine body packer case report: clinical and forensic aspects. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 47(6):590-591.

35)  Li RB, Guan DW, Zhu BL, Zhang GH, Zhao R (2009) Death from accidental poisoning of methamphetamine by leaking into alimentary tract in drug traffic: a case report. Leg Med (Tokyo) 11 Suppl 1:S491-493.

36)  Barbera N, Spadaro G, Romano G (2010) Lethal cocaine intoxication due to “body-stuffer syndrome”. Bollettino sulle Dipendenze XXXIII(3):27-32.

37)  de Prost N, Mégarbane B, Questel F, Bloch V, Bertaux DC, Pourriat JL, Rabbat A (2010) Blood cocaine and metabolite pharmacokinetics after cardiac arrest in a body-packer case. Hum Exp Toxicol 29(1):49-53.

38)  Njau SN, Raikos N, Spagou K, Tzikas A, Tsoukali H (2010) Heroin body packer’s death in Greece. Open Forensic Sci J 3:53-56.

39)  Hantson P, Capron A, Wallemacq P (2011) Toxicokinetics of cocaine and metabolites in a body-packer becoming symptomatic. J Forensic Leg Med 18(8):385-387.

40)  Spadari M, Canioni D, Gregoire E, Drouet G, Bourdon JH, Arditti J, Micallef J (2011) Cannabis body packing: two case reports. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 49(9):862-864.

41)  Wilcher G (2011) Drug-related deaths with evidence of intracorporeal drug concealment at autopsy: five case reports. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 32(4):314-318.

42)  Bin Abdul Rashid SN, Rahim AS, Thali MJ, Flach PM (2013) Death by 'ice': fatal methamphetamine intoxication of a body packer case detected by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and validated by autopsy. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 9(1):82-87.

43)  Uekusa K, Hayashida M, Saito N, Mashiko K, Hara K, Waters B, Ohno Y (2013) Methamphetamine and amphetamine concentrations in survivors of body-packer syndrome in Japan. Forensic Sci Int 227(1-3):45-47.

44)  Hantson P, Capron A, Maillart JF (2014) Oesophageal and gastric obstruction in a cocaine body packer. J Forensic Leg Med 27:62-64.

45)  Kumral B, Büyük Y, Yeşiloğlu F, Özkan OL (2014) A fatal case of heroin body packing in Turkey. Forensic Toxicol 30:199-201.

46)  Shields LB, Rolf CM, Hunsaker JC 3rd (2015) Sudden death due to acute cocaine toxicity-excited delirium in a body packer. J Forensic Sci [Epub ahead of print].