Bladder Wash: A Proof of Concept as an Alternative Specimen for Postmortem Toxicology

In postmortem forensic investigation cases where the bladder is voided or dehydrated prior to autopsy, it is possible to wash the bladder with saline and collect the ‘bladder wash’ and any residual urine for toxicological analysis. While not conventional, this study aims to determine the use of bladder washes as alternative specimens in postmortem forensic toxicology. Comprehensive drug and alcohol analysis was performed on blood, urine, vitreous humor and bladder wash samples. Control studies consisted of matched bladder wash and urine samples for comparison. Authentic applicability studies were performed on bladder wash samples in cases where only blood or no urine samples were available. Bladder wash testing via the routine urine methodology were shown to have the appropriate sensitivity and specificity to serve as an alternative specimen. Specificity of the applicability studies was further improved when comparisons were corrected by evaluating individual analytes jointly with their related parent drug or metabolites. Individual and corrected sensitivity and specificity rates of above 99% were typically observed in both comparisons against urine and blood paired samples. Following drug analysis of 31 cases in which only a bladder wash was available, 57 detections from 23 different analytes were detected that otherwise would have not been obtained. This study demonstrates that standardized collection of the easily accessible bladder wash for postmortem toxicological analysis serves forensic toxicologists and pathologists with invaluable information where urine or other biological specimens are not available.