Postmortem blood concentrations of parent tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) drugs in 11 cases of suicide

The blood levels of parent tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) drugs in 11 cases of suicide are reviewed. Values ranged from 0.11 mg% to 2.4 mg% with a mean of 0.80 mg%, which is consistant with the recent literature. The data suggest that in autopsy cases where TCA tissue levels or TCA metabolite concentrations could not be, or were not determined, blood levels of parent TCA drugs exceeding 0.1 mg% may be regarded confidently as the cause of death when no other cause is present.