Acute necrotizing myopathy and podophyllin toxicity: report of a fatal case

A 21 year old male ingested podophyllin in a suicide attempt. The disorder was marked by seizures, coma, peripheral neuropathy, renal failure and acute necrotizing myopathy, an unusual finding. The coma and systemic disturbance resolved within theree weeks. The myopathy resolved in 7 weeks, demonstrating a high capacity of muscle recuperation. The sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy persisted until the patient's death 9 weeks after the ingestion, due to septicemia. This report confirms the transient central neurotoxicity of podophyllin and persistent peripheral neurotoxicity of podophyllin, and describes a reversible necrotizing myopathy associated to mitochondrial abnormalities, a sitill unreported feature of podophillin toxicity.

Intoxicaçäo sistêmica por podofilina: relato de um caso fatal / Sistemic intoxication by podophyllum: report of a fatal case

Relata-se um caso fatal de intoxicaçäo sistêmica por podofilina, que apreentou quadro neurológico grave, com tetraplegia e arreflexia global intermitente, elevaçäo de aminotransferases, enzimas musculares e acentuada leucocitose. Duas biópsias consecutivas revelaram miosite externa e a eletromiografia polineuropatia grave