[Ethylene glycol poisoning treated with hemodialysis]

The paper deals with the course of illness in a patient aged 56 years who had ingested accidentally an unknown amount of alcoholic drink followed by 150 ml of 95 percent solution of ethylene glycol. The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit 28 hours after the accident. The serum ethylene glycol concentration reached 14 mg/100 ml. The slow elimination of ethylene glycol during 28 hours before haemodialysis could be explained by the protective effect of ethanol which the patient had consumed before ethylene glycol. The method of extracorporeal haemodialysis was applied for four hours; the membrane surface was 1.3 m2 and blood velocity 200 ml/min. The rate of clearance of ethylene glycol and its metabolites was 110-150 ml/min. The total amount of ethylene glycol eliminated during four hours of haemodialysis came to about 5 g. Four hours from the beginning of the treatment the serum ethylene glycol concentration was not measurable. As the patient developed signs of acute renal failure the haemodialysis method was applied two more times. The patient was dismissed from hospital in good clinical condition, with normal diuresis and repaired renal function on the 13th day from admission.