title: Misdiagnosis and long-term outcome of 13 patients with acute thallium poisoning in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze clinical feature and evaluate long-term outcome of patients with thallium poisoning.
  
  
  METHODS
  An observational series of cases with acute thallium poisoning was analyzed retrospectively in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between 2000 and 2010. The clinical data including symptom, determination of thallium level, treatment, neurophysiological examination, and neuropsychological evaluation were analyzed. The patients were followed up until December 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven men and six women were enrolled in the study. The median patient age was 37 years (range: 15-53 years). The median duration of hospitalization was 44 days (range: 7-72). All the patients were misdiagnosed initially. One patient died in the hospital. The other 12 patients were followed for a median of 7 years (range: 1-12 years) after discharge from hospital. One patient died from leukemia in the first year of follow-up. Long-term outcome results showed peripheral neuropathy improved substantially. However, many patients have mild or moderate sequelae in sensory nerve fibers of distal lower extremity. A sural nerve biopsy in one patient revealed shrunken axons, distorted myelin sheath, and myelinated fibers loss. During follow-up period, problem of intelligence (4/12 patients, 33%), memory impairment (4/12, 33%), anxiety (6/12, 50%), and depression (5/12, 42%) were demonstrated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neurological symptoms may lead to misdiagnosis of thallium poisoning. Mild or moderate neurological sequelae may last for a long time after thallium poisoning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan University and Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University , Chengdu , P.R.China.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiong
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013793:Thallium / Q000506:poisoning*
chemical_list: D013793:Thallium