Fatal intoxications by acenocoumarol, phenprocoumon and warfarin: Method validation in blood using the total error approach

A simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with ultraviolet (UV) detection has been developed and validated for simultaneous identification and quantification of three antivitamin K drugs (acenocoumarol, warfarin and phenprocoumon) in whole blood. The aim of this development was to propose an analytical technique adapted to the situations of forensic toxicology, i.e. intoxication with massive anticoagulant doses, when the usual coagulation tests could not be used. The blood sample, after spiked with prazepam as an internal standard (IS), was submitted to a liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) prior to HPLC analysis. A chromatographic separation was achieved on a C8 Symmetry column with a mobile phase consisting of an acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (pH 3.8) mixture in a gradient mode. Detection was carried out at a wavelength between 200 and 400 nm. This method has been validated with the concept of total error as decision criterion. Trueness ranged from 99.1% to 105.0% and precision was good with RSD between 1.3% and 6.7%. Consequently, this rapid and simple chromatographic technique is well adapted to focus intoxications with most important coumarinic drugs available on pharmaceutical market and is now routinely used in our laboratory for forensic “general unknown” screening.