Self-poisoning with Colchicum autumnale L. flowers.
A 44-year-old man ingested about 40 flowers of Colchicum autumnale L. The patient presented with nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain 2 hours after ingestion and had diarrhea 14 hours after ingestion. Hematological values remained within normal range. Treatment was mainly supportive. The outcome was favorable. The intoxication was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Maximal colchicine levels were 4.34 ng/mL at 13 hours in plasma and 5.43 ng/mL at 16 hours in erythrocytes.


CONCLUSIONS
We report one of the few symptomatic cases of Colchicum autumnale L. poisoning confirmed by toxicological analysis.
Danel
V C
VC
Département Pluridisciplinaire de Médecine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Grenoble, France. VDanel@chu-grenoble.fr
Wiart
J F
JF
Hardy
G A
GA
Vincent
F H
FH
Houdret
N M
NM
D000328:Adult; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003078:Colchicine / Q000097:blood; D003079:Colchicum / Q000506:poisoning*; D006801:Humans; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D013406:Suicide, Attempted
D003078:Colchicine