Citation

Kitami Y, Takei H, Nagai Y, Fujita K, Miyama S. Pediatr. Int. 2019; 61(2): 212-213.

Affiliation

Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Japan Pediatric Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/ped.13777

PMID

30809878

Abstract

Afloqualone, an analogue of methaqualone developed in the 1980s in Japan,1, 2 is a centrally acting muscle relaxant that affects the spinal polysynaptic reflexes and is used by patients with cervico‐omobrachial syndrome, lumbar pain, and spastic paralysis. An important side‐effect of the drug is photosensitization, causing skin symptoms such as dermatitis.3 An overdose of afloqualone has been previously reported in one Japanese study,4 but never before in the English‐language literature. We report here the case of an infant who had a coma and seizure after accidentally ingesting a massive dose of afloqualone, and describe the serum concentration of the drug in the acute phase. Informed consent was obtained orally from the patient and her parents and described on a medical record for publication of this case report.

A 2‐year‐9‐month‐old girl with no past medical history ingested afloqualone, which her mother was taking for joint pain relief. The mother had placed the drug where she thought it would be out of the child's reach, but the patient was able to find the medicine, remove the tablets from the press‐through‐package sheets, and swallow 29 tablets (580 mg). The mother noticed that the patient was ingesting the medicine and tried to induce vomiting unsuccessfully. After the patient began to show a change in her behavior, her mother called the emergency services and the patient was brought to hospital...

Language: en

Keywords

afloqualone; coma; overdose; seizure