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Joseph M. Baron, MD; Dan L. Tritch, MD
Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago and Argonne Cancer Research Hospital

JAMA. 1970;211(6):1012-1013.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The failure of standard hemodialysis to shorten the duration of coma, lessen complications, or improve survival in acute severe glutethimide intoxication as recently reported by Chazan and Cohen¹ serves to emphasize the importance of removing this drug from the gastrointestinal tract before it can be absorbed. We were recently impressed by the possible value of catharsis in this regard when a 29-year-old housewife who had been deeply comatose for 48 hours, after ingestion of 13 gm of glutethimide, was given 30 ml of castor oil per nasogastric tube. During the next nine hours, there was a marked cathartic effect, and the patient awoke.

We wish to suggest from this experience that, in addition to initial gastric lavage,² induction of catharsis, even many hours after ingestion of glutethimide, may be useful in reducing the absorbed dose of this lipid-soluble drug which has been found to persist . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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