title: Acute selenium poisoning.
abstract: Reports of acute human selenium toxicity are rare. We report 2 new cases. One patient ingested a mouthful of selenic acid (30 g/L); he only suffered mild gastrointestinal disturbances. Serial measurements of plasma selenium concentrations were performed. The first plasma level was obtained 3 h after ingestion and was the highest (931 micrograms/L); plasma concentrations subsequently decreased with a half-life of 17.5 h. The second patient ingested 1.7 g of sodium selenite. He suffered severe gastroenteritis, had transient electrocardiographic changes and developed a slight elevation of serum bilirubin. The first serum concentration measurement was performed 3 h after ingestion; the selenium level was 2.716 micrograms/L. These data are compared to those from other published cases. The prognostic significance of the blood selenium concentration is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Centre Anti-Poisons de Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gasmi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garnier
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galliot-Guilley
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaudillat
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Quartenoud
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buisine
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Djebbar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000187:drug effects; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000097:blood / Q000139:chemically induced; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064586:Selenic Acid; D012643:Selenium / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning*; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000506:poisoning*; D018038:Sodium Selenite / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000506:poisoning*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013406:Suicide, Attempted
chemical_list: D018036:Selenium Compounds; D012643:Selenium; D018038:Sodium Selenite; D064586:Selenic Acid; D001663:Bilirubin