Misidentification of propionic acid as ethylene glycol in a patient with methylmalonic acidemia

J Pediatr. 1992 Mar;120(3):417-21. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(05)80909-6.

Abstract

Reexamination of serum from a child thought to have died of ethylene glycol poisoning showed that the child had methylmalonic acidemia. The gas chromatographic peak identified as ethylene glycol by a clinical laboratory was actually due to propionic acid. Proof of a metabolic basis for the child's symptoms eventually exonerated his mother of the charge of murder.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Acidosis / chemically induced
  • Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors / diagnosis
  • Chromatography, Gas
  • Diagnostic Errors
  • Ethylene Glycol
  • Ethylene Glycols / blood
  • Ethylene Glycols / poisoning*
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Methylmalonic Acid / blood*
  • Poisoning / diagnosis
  • Propionates / blood*

Substances

  • Ethylene Glycols
  • Propionates
  • Methylmalonic Acid
  • Ethylene Glycol
  • propionic acid