Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0034067 (emphysema)
 11,506 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Paraquat, a useful contact herbicide is now used in over 130 countries of the world, including Sri Lanka. The number of cases of accidental poisoning reported with paraquat is small, relative to instances of suicide. When a clear history is not available, accidental paraquat poisoning is sometimes difficult to diagnose. A 9-year-old boy was admitted to a peripheral hospital with a history of diarrhoea and vomiting. He later developed abdominal pain, subcutaneous emphysema and difficulty in breathing. Following transfer to a district hospital and then to a teaching hospital, poisoning with paraquat was suspected only on day 11 of the illness. On persistent questioning, on day 13 of the illness the child remembered that the day prior to the onset of illness, on his way from a shop, he felt thirsty and having found an empty bottle of Gramoxone (paraquat) on the wayside he used it to drink water from a water tank. The child died on day 17 and the histology of the lung showed typical changes of paraquat poisoning. This tragic episode emphasises the need for proper disposal of empty containers of all poisonous substances.
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PMID:An unusual case of fatal accidental paraquat poisoning. 230 5

Paraquat intoxication is a common medical problem in this country. The mortality is high, particularly in the cases of high dose ingestion. Mediastinal emphysema observed in paraquat intoxication always means mortality, however, we experienced a survivor. A 29 y/o female ingested about 10-15 c.c. of 24% (2.4-3.6 gm) paraquat to attempt suicide. Nausea and protracted vomiting occurred shortly after. During hospitalization, mediastinal emphysema developed on the 7th day and subsided 10 days later. Serum paraquat level determination revealed 185 ng/ml in 20 hours after ingestion and 34 ng/ml on the 6th day. She received general supportive treatments with the augmentation of sodium thiosulfate. Hypokalemia had been observed for 11 days and was intractable until hypomagnesemia was identified and corrected. So far, she had returned back to her work for more than 1 year, although the chest x-ray revealed slight pulmonary fibrosis. The high ingested dose, oral ulcers, high serum level and mediastinal emphysema of this patient all implicate a poor prognosis of paraquat intoxication; however, these contradict the observed survival of our patient. In conclusion, mediastinal emphysema observed in paraquat intoxication is not related to the serum level of paraquat. It does not absolutely lead to death and may simply come from the esophageal rupture after vigorous vomiting in paraquat intoxication.
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PMID:Survival of paraquat intoxication complicated with mediastinal emphysema: a case report. 783 61

Paraquat is a nonselective contact herbicide of great toxicological importance, being associated with high mortality rates, mainly due to respiratory failure. We report the case of a 22-year-old male admitted to the emergency room with a sore throat, dysphagia, hemoptysis, and retrosternal pain after the ingestion of 50 mL of a paraquat solution, four days prior to admission. Chest CT scans revealed pulmonary opacities, pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, and subcutaneous emphysema. The patient was submitted to two cycles of immunosuppressive therapy with cyclophosphamide, methylprednisolone, and dexamethasone. The pulmonary gas exchange parameters gradually improved, and the patient was discharged four weeks later. The clinical and tomographic follow-up evaluations performed at four months after discharge showed that there had been further clinical improvement. We also present a brief review of the literature, as well as a discussion of the therapeutic algorithm for severe paraquat poisoning.
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PMID:Severe paraquat poisoning: clinical and radiological findings in a survivor. 2083 1