Effect of intravenous lipid emulsion in patients with acute glyphosate intoxication

Although glyphosate intoxication has been considered minimally toxic in animals, severe toxicity has been observed in humans due to surfactant. We aimed to examine the potential therapeutic effects of intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE) on the patients with acute glyphosate intoxication.

This study enrolled 64 glyphosate-intoxicated patients with allocation to two groups: those treated with ILE (ILE group, n = 22), and control patients treated with only supportive (conservative) care. Control patients were selected by matching for the amount ingested and time since ingestion. Twenty-two control patients were separately selected from the 42 patients receiving supportive care only. In ILE group, 20% lipid emulsion product was injected intravenously at the rate of 20 mL/h for the patients who ingested less than 100 ml of glyphosate. In the patients who ingested more than 100 ml of glyphosate, the loading dose was 500 ml for 2-3 h according to the status of the patients, followed by a maintenance dose of 1000 ml for the next 24 h.

Thirteen patients received high dose of ILE because the ingestion amount was more than 100 ml. None of the ILE group suffered from the complication of hypotension, while approximately 41% of the control group developed the complication. Additionally, arrhythmia was not observed in the ILE group. The incidence of mental change, respiratory failure, and acute kidney injury was similar between the two groups.

ILE administration was associated with lower incidence of hypotension and arrhythmia in patients with acute glyphosate intoxication. ILE administration seems to be an effective treatment modality in patients who ingested sufficient amount of glyphosate herbicide that is expected to bring about significant toxicity.