ISSN:
1432-1238
Keywords:
Key words Gitaloxin
;
Intoxication
;
Children
;
Fragment antigen binding
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
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 28.6nprogressively 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.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01709566
