Acute selenium poisoning

Reports of acute human selenium toxicity are rare. We report 2 new cases. One patient ingested a mouthful of selenic acid (30 g/L); he only suffered mild gastrointestinal disturbances. Serial measurements of plasma selenium concentrations were performed. The first plasma level was obtained 3 h after ingestion and was the highest (931 micrograms/L); plasma concentrations subsequently decreased with a half-life of 17.5 h. The second patient ingested 1.7 g of sodium selenite. He suffered severe gastroenteritis, had transient electrocardiographic changes and developed a slight elevation of serum bilirubin. The first serum concentration measurement was performed 3 h after ingestion; the selenium level was 2.716 micrograms/L. These data are compared to those from other published cases. The prognostic significance of the blood selenium concentration is discussed.