Intravenous Paraquat Poisoning

Paraquat is a substance that is highly poisonous to humans. Oral ingestion is the most common pathway of poisoning. Intravenous paraquat poisoning is rare and is strongly associated with attempted suicide. The clinical presentations of such a scenario would appear to be quite different from those of oral ingestion. Herein, we present a case of an intravenous drug abuser who injected paraquat in an effort to commit suicide. He received hemoperfusion and intravenous cyclophosphamide treatment and parenteral pulse therapy with methylprednisolone. Nevertheless, he suffered from dyspnea at around 48 hours post-exposure. His condition improved transiently, but he eventually died from severe hypoxia. The findings from our case and those of previously reported cases indicate the grave prognosis and lack of effective management of intravenous paraquat poisoning. [J Chin Med Assoc 2009;72(10):547-550]