Gitaloxin poisoning in a child.

Abstract

Gitaloxin is a digitalis glycoside used for the same indications as digoxin and digitoxin. The successful outcome for a 2 1/2-year-old boy who accidentally ingested 3 mg of gitaloxin (100 times the normal therapeutic dose) is reported. At admission the child presented with irregular heart rhythm. He subsequently started vomiting, even after continuous gastric feeding. Only 48 h after ingestion of gitaloxin he became somnolent and developed bradyarrhythmia. The symptoms disappeared 96 h later; the bradyarrhythmia, however, (second-degree atrioventricular block) decreased progressively only after 120 h. The initial clinical presentation of gitaloxin poisoning may be misleading and careful observation in a pediatric intensive care unit is mandatory. A cross-reaction between the fluorescence polarization immunoassay for digitoxin and the radioimmunoassay for gitaloxin was found and was used as a helpful, but rough, estimate of the severity of gitaloxin poisoning, in the absence of a specific measurement of gitaloxin.

• Authors: S Hachimi-Idrissi, L Corne, V Maes, J Ramet
• Journal: Intensive care medicine (Intensive Care Med) Vol. 22 Issue 12 Pg. 1442-4 (Dec 1996) ISSN: 0342-4642 [Print] United States
• PMID: 8986501 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Digoxin
• gitaloxin

Topics

• Bradycardia (chemically induced)
• Child, Preschool
• Critical Care
• Digoxin (analogs & derivatives, poisoning)
• Electrocardiography
• Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay
• Humans
• Male
• Poisoning (blood, diagnosis, therapy)
• Vomiting (chemically induced)