Detection of the calcium antagonist nicardipine and its metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

An 89-year-old male patient, hospitalized with Parkinson’s syndrome, suddenly died shortly after an intravenous drug injection. The conditions indicated that an overdose of nicardipine (1.3mg/(mlkg)) may be given to the patient. At the autopsy, no pathological changes were noted. With a capillary gas chromatograph with mass spectrometer (GC–MS), nicardipine (4.97μg/ml) and its pyridine metabolite (M-5, 5.0μg/ml) were detected in the heart blood of the deceased. This result indicated that an overdose of intravenous nicardipine caused a sudden death of a patient in a poor condition.