Postmortem concentrations of thiopental in tissues: a sudden death case.

High-performance liquid chromatography was employed to determine the concentration of thiopental in body fluids and tissues in an individual who had died due to intravenous injection of the clinical dose. The blood concentration of thiopental was 0.6 mg/l. Among the 10 tissues examined, the brain and thymus showed the highest level of the drug; 11.9 mg/kg and 7.66 mg/kg, respectively. The results are discussed in the light of the relevant literature.