Citation

Essame J, Grossberg S, Mahomed A. Afr. J. Emerg. Med. 2020; 10(3): 167-169.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, African Federation for Emergency Medicine, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.afjem.2019.12.005

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Introduction
Colchicine overdose is uncommon but is associated with a high mortality rate. It has a narrow therapeutic index and has been described to have a 100% mortality with ingestion of >0.8 mg/kg (Finkelstein et al., 2010; Herran-Monge et al., 2013; Aghabiklooei et al., 2014; Erden et al., 2013).

Case report
This is a case report of a 19-year-old male who ingested 0.4 mg/kg of colchicine in a suicide attempt. He developed multiorgan dysfunction. He was managed supportively, and the dysfunction resolved.

Discussion
The clinical presentation and management should be familiar to all those who work in acute care in order to be able to identify and treat it timeously thus preventing morbidity and mortality. Treatment is largely supportive. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case of colchicine overdose described in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Language: en

Keywords

Colchicine; Multi-organ failure; Overdose