Tsatsakis_2002_Hum.Exp.Toxicol_21_49

Two cases of severe fenthion intoxication are presented. The first is a case of a psychiatric patient who attempted suicide with ingestion of the compound, and the second case was of a child exposed to the chemical agent by air spraying. Both patients were treated in the intensive care unit with atropine and pralidoxime and finally survived. Fenthion blood levels on admission were 2.7 and 0.95 microg/mL, respectively. Different concentrations of pralidoxime were added to the first patient's poisoned serum in order to assess in vitro the effect of pralidoxime on cholinesterase reactivation. The clinical and toxicological data of the poisonings are discussed, as well as the potential therapeutic use of pralidoxime in organophosphate intoxication.