Self-Poisoning with<i>Colchicum autumnale L</i>. Flowers

Abstract

UNLABELLED: 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. CONCLUSION: We report one of the few symptomatic cases of Colchicum autumnale L. poisoning confirmed by toxicological analysis.