Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, 1104 North Mission Road, Los Angeles, CA 90033, U.S.A.

The analysis of mirtazapine from postmortem specimens (2 ml sample size) consisted of an n-butylchloride basic extraction procedure with screening and quantitation on a GC/NPD. Linearity was achieved from 0.05 mg/L to 3.0 mg/L with limit of quantitation being 0.05 mg/L. Confirmation of mirtazapine was performed on a GC/MS by comparison with an analytical standard.

The tissue distribution of mirtazapine are in the following concentration ranges: Heart blood 0.10 - 0.32 mg/L, Femoral blood 0.13 - 0.24 mg/L, Vitreous 0.06 - 0.10 mg/L, Liver 0.53 - 2.1 mg/kg, Bile 1.2 - 6.6 mg/L, Urine 0.43 - 2.5 mg/L, and Gastric 0.012 - 2.7 mg total. In all five cases, the concentration of mirtazapine was not directly linked to the cause of death. However, these cases represent the first reported fatalities involving the anti-depressant, mirtazapine, and can be used for postmortem comparisons.