Aristolochia ; chemistry ; poisoning ; Aristolochic Acids ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; poisoning ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; poisoning ; Poisoning ; prevention & control

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Glycoproteins ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Paraquat ; poisoning ; Poisoning ; drug therapy

The Tripterygium preparation, a Chinese herbal medicine, has been widely used to treat various autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Its significant clinical effects have received a great praise and attention by the public health in China, but its toxicity also definitely exists, with the therapeutic dosage approaching the minimal toxic dosage. In order to provide reference for the safe use of Tripterygium preparation in clinical practice, the pathological changes of 4 autopsy cases by Tripterygium poisoning were reported in this paper. In them, 2 cases died of acute cardiogenic shock caused by myocardial damage, showing hydropic degeneration of the myocardial cells, even with obvious contraction band necrosis in the papillary muscles; the other 2 died of severe acute renal failure due to severe acute toxic nephrosis; cerebral edema and gastrointestinal inflammatory changes were found in all cases. The authors suggested that careful dosage control is the key step to prevent Tripterygium intoxication during the medical treatments; directly using the crude Tripterygium in clinics should be prohibited; and the Tripterygium preparation used should be produced by the pharmaceutical companies regulated by the government.
Adult ; Autopsy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; poisoning ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Tripterygium ; poisoning ; Young Adult

The poisoning information database (PIDB) provides clinical toxicological information on commonly encountered toxic substances in Korea. The aim of this study was to estimate the coverage rate of the PIDB by comparing the database with the distribution of toxic substances that real poisoning patients presented to 20 emergency departments. Development of the PIDB started in 2007, and the number of toxic substances increased annually from 50 to 470 substances in 2014. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with toxic exposure who visited 20 emergency departments in Korea from January to December 2013. Identified toxic substances were classified as prescription drug, agricultural chemical, household product, animal or plant, herbal drug, or other. We calculated the coverage rate of the PIDB for both the number of poisoning cases and the kinds of toxic substances. A total of 10,887 cases of intoxication among 8,145 patients was collected. The 470 substances registered in the PIDB covered 89.3% of 8,891 identified cases related to poisoning, while the same substances only covered 45.3% of the 671 kinds of identified toxic substances. According to category, 211 prescription drugs, 58 agricultural chemicals, 28 household products, and 32 animals or plants were not covered by the PIDB. This study suggested that the PIDB covered a large proportion of real poisoning cases in Korea. However, the database should be continuously extended to provide information for even rare toxic substances.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Animals, Poisonous ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Databases, Factual ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/poisoning ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pesticides/poisoning ; Plants, Medicinal/poisoning ; Poisoning/*epidemiology ; Prescription Drugs/poisoning ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo observe the curative efficacy of rhubarb, montmorillonite powder combined with blood purification on treatment for patients with severe acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning (AOPP).

METHODS39 patients with AOPP were divided into treatment group (received the combined treatment of rhubarb, montmorillonite powder and blood purification on the basis of routine therapy, n = 21) and control group (only received the routine treatment because of financial difficulties or the will of family members, n = 18). The differences of clinical manifestations, curative effects and prognosis between two groups were compared.

RESULTSThe time of consciousness recovery, the duration of mechanical ventilation and the length of stay in hospital in treatment group were (6.5 ± 1.3), (7.9 ± 2.0) and (13.1 ± 3.2) days, which were significantly shorter than those [(8.4 ± 2.4), (10.7 ± 2.9) and (16.5 ± 3.7) days] of control group (P < 0.05). In 5, 6 and 7 day after treatment,the cholinesterase (ChE) activities of treatment group were significantly higher than those of control group (P < 0.05). The total amount and using time of atropine and pyraloxime methylchloride in treatment group were significantly smaller and shorter than those in control group (P < 0.05). The death rate of treatment group was [19.0% (4/21)], which were significantly lower than that of control group [19.0% (4/21)] (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe combined treatment of rhubarb, montmorillonite powder and blood purification of the AOPP patients has a better curative effect.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hemofiltration ; methods ; Humans ; Insecticides ; poisoning ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Organophosphate Poisoning ; therapy ; Pesticides ; poisoning ; Phytotherapy ; Prognosis ; Rheum ; Young Adult

This study was performed to review studies carried out in Korea reporting toxic reactions to traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) as a result of heavy metal contamination. PubMed (1966-August 2013) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1965-August 2013) were searched using the medical subject heading terms of "Medicine, Chinese Traditional," "Medicine, Korean Traditional," "Medicine, Traditional," "Metals, Heavy," and "Drug Contamination". For Korean literature, Korea Med (http://www.koreamed.org), the Korean Medical Database (http://kmbase.medric.or.kr), National Discovery for Science Leaders (www.ndsl.kr), Research Information Sharing Service (http://www.riss.kr), and Google Scholar were searched using the terms "Chinese medicine," "Korean medicine," "herbal medicine," and "metallic contamination" in Korean. Bibliographies of case reports and case series, identified using secondary resources, were also utilized. Only literature describing cases or studies performed in Korea were included. Case reports identified clear issues with heavy metal, particularly lead, contamination of TCMs utilized in Korea. No international standardization guidelines for processing, manufacturing and marketing of herbal products exist. Unacceptably high levels of toxic metals can be present in TCM preparations. Health care providers and patients should be educated on the potential risks associated with TCMs. International advocacy for stricter standardization procedures for production of TCMs is warranted.
*Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/*adverse effects/chemistry ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Medicine, Korean Traditional ; Metals, Heavy/*poisoning ; *Poisoning ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Assessment

Adult ; Aged ; Arsenic Poisoning ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged

Adult ; Arsenic Poisoning ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Schizophrenia ; drug therapy ; Tablets

Adolescent ; Adult ; Arsenic Poisoning ; drug therapy ; Child ; Chronic Disease ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy

No abstract available.
Adult ; Anemia, Hemolytic/diagnosis/*etiology/therapy ; Colic/diagnosis/*etiology/therapy ; Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/*adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Lead Poisoning/diagnosis/*etiology/therapy ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome