title: Alimemazine poisoning as evidence of Munchausen syndrome by proxy: A pediatric case report.
abstract: Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP), also known as fabricated or induced illness in a child by a caretaker, is a form of abuse where a caregiver deliberately produces or feigns illness in a person under his or her care, so that the proxy will receive medical care that gratifies the caregiver. The affected children are often hospitalized for long periods and endure repetitive, painful and expensive diagnostic attempts. We present an analytically confirmed case of MSBP by alimemazine. A 3-year-old boy was brought repetitively to a Pediatric Emergency Department by his mother because he presented limb tremors, dysarthria, obnubilation, and ataxia and generalized tonic-clonic seizures coinciding with intermittent fever. Neither the rest of the physical examination nor the complementary tests showed any significant alterations. MSBP was suspected and a routine systematic toxicological analysis in urine and blood was requested. Alimemazine was detected in all biological samples. The administration of this drug was never mentioned by the mother and the subsequent interview with her corroborated the suspicion of MSBP. Clinically, after separation from the mother, the child's neurological symptoms gradually improved until the complete disappearance of the cerebellar symptoms. Alimemazine was quantified in serum, urine, gastric content and cerebrospinal fluid samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (maximum serum level was 0.42μg/ml). Hair quantification of alimemazine was performed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in different segments of hair. The results confirmed regular substance use during the at least eight last months (8.8, 14.7, 19.7 and 4.6ng/mg hair starting from most proximal segment). This patient represents the first case published with analytical data of alimemazine in blood, urine, gastric content, cerebrospinal fluid and hair, which allowed us to prove an acute and repetitive poisoning with alimemazine as evidence of MSBP.
authors: Clinical Toxicology Unit, Clinical Analysis Department, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Research Institute of Health Sciences (IdISPa), Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: isabel.gomila@ssib.es.
authors: Isabel
authors: I
authors: Gomila
authors: Division of Emergency, Department of Paediatrics, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: victoria.lopez@ssib.es.
authors: Victoria
authors: V
authors: López-Corominas
authors: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: manuela.pellegrini@iss.it.
authors: Manuela
authors: M
authors: Pellegrini
authors: Research Institute of Health Sciences (IdISPa), Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: loreto.quesada@gmail.com.
authors: Loreto
authors: L
authors: Quesada
authors: Division of Neurology, Department of Paediatrics, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: elena.miravet@ssib.es.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Miravet
authors: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: simona.pichini@iss.it.
authors: Simona
authors: S
authors: Pichini
authors: Clinical Toxicology Unit, Clinical Analysis Department, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Research Institute of Health Sciences (IdISPa), Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: bernardino.barcelo@ssib.es.
authors: Bernardino
authors: B
authors: Barceló
mesh_terms: D000982:Antipruritics / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016735:Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014291:Trimeprazine / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*
chemical_list: D000982:Antipruritics; D014291:Trimeprazine
keywords: Alimemazine; Munchausen syndrome by proxy; Trimeprazine