Background: Thousands of paraquat (PQ)-poisoned patients continue to die. Plasma perfusion (PP) has recently been incorporated as a method of clinical detoxification. The purpose of this study was to estimate the PQ clearance of PP and observe the effect of PP on PQ concentration in the blood of patients with acute PQ poisoning.
Methods: Twenty one PQ-poisoned patients admitted to our poisoning center within 24 hours after the ingestion were prospectively enrolled. Continuous plasma perfusion was performed. Urinary PQ and plasma PQ concentration level at inlet/outlet of the cartridge were obtained right before and 1.5 hours after the start of each perfusion session for the calculation of renal and plasma PQ excretion.
Results: In all 8 rounds (108 sessions) of PP on the 21 patients, PQ clearance rate (mL/min) by PP was always found to be higher than the renal value: (1st 11.14 ± 6.13 versus 6.53 ± 1.46; 2nd 18.36 ± 11.32 versus 6.23 ± 1.51; 3rd 16.13 ± 10.05 versus 4.01 ± 0.93; 4th 12.86 [6.72, 17.47] versus 2.42 [0.65, 4.20]; 5th 14.12 [10.48, 35.20] versus 1.77 [0.63, 2.91]; 6th 16.47 [11.82; 20.69] versus 1.70 [0.23, 3.18]; 7th 13.33 [9.71, 18.75] versus 1.10 [0.14, 2.99]; 8th 11.27 [9.21, 16.02] versus 1.10 [0.09, 2.79], P < 0.05). The survivors showed a higher plasma PQ reduction rate (mg L hour) than the nonsurvivors (0.57 ± 0.03 versus 0.47 ± 0.06, P < 0.05).
Conclusions: Our data show that PP therapies help in the clearance of PQ and may prove a promising therapeutic tool in patients with acute PQ intoxication.