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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

A Protocol for Safe Lithiation Reactions Using Organolithium Reagents
Published on: November 12, 2016
[Lithium: only acceptable with careful monitoring]
Rocco Hoekstra1, Arjan M van Alphen, Tessa M Bosch
1Antes / Delta Psychiatrisch Centrum, afd. Delta Zorgboulevard, Rotterdam.
Abstract:
In the Netherlands, lithium is the mood stabilizer of choice for patients with bipolar disorder. Long-term treatment with lithium can only be implemented safely with frequent and appropriate monitoring of serum lithium concentrations. Here we use 3 cases to illustrate that severe complications can arise when careful monitoring is not performed: a 47-year-old woman with symptoms of a lithium intoxication with therapeutic plasma levels; a 73-year-old woman with chronic lithium intoxication; and a 56-year-old woman with end-stage renal failure after many years of probable toxic lithium levels.
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