Citation

Strzelecki A, Pichon N, Gaulier JM, Amiel JB, Champy P, Clavel M. Basic Clin. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 2010; 107(2): 698-699.

Affiliation

Department of Anaesthesiology, Dupuytren Teaching Hospital, Limoges, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Nordic Pharmacological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1742-7843.2010.00566.x

PMID

20353487

Abstract

This report involves a 54-year-old man who died following refractory ventricular fibrillation after ingestion of a plant in a suicide attempt. Repeated direct-current cardioversions were unsuccessful and no single anti-arrhythmic agent was effective for arrhythmia control. The routine blood toxicological screening was negative. Aconitine, the main toxin of Aconitum napellus was identified using a specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. The whole blood concentration (24 mug/l) was higher than those reported in other aconitine-related deaths. The patient had found information about the life-threatening nature of such a toxic herb intake on a free medical encyclopaedia online.

Language: en