In this work, a case of deliberate self-poisoning is presented. A 14-year-old girl suddenly died during one
of the several hospitalizations. Abdominal computer tomography showed a large number of metallic
particles in the large intestine. Analysis of blood and internal organs for mercury and other toxic metals
carried out by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) revealed high
concentrations of mercury in kidneys and liver (64,200 and 2470 ng/g, respectively), less in stomach
(90 ng/g), and none in blood. Using cold vapor-atomic absorption spectrometry (CV AAS), high levels ofmercury were confirmed in all examined materials, including blood (87 ng/g), and additionally in hair.
The results of analysis obtained by two techniques revealed that the exposure to mercury was
considerable (some time later, it was stated that the mercury originated from thermometers that had
been broken over the course of about 1 year, because of Mu¨ nchausen syndrome). CV AAS is a more
sensitive technique, particularly for blood samples (negative results using ICP OES), and tissue samples –
with LOQ: 0.63 ng/g of Hg (CV AAS) vis-a` -vis 70 ng/g of Hg (ICP OES). However, ICP OES may be used as a
screening technique for autopsy material in acute poisoning by a heavy metal, even one as volatile as
mercury.