(1968) Paraquat poisoning treated by forced diuresis.

of diquat is only half of that of para-quat, but nevertheless, the occurrence of diarrhoea, and the persistence of the poison for such a long period in the patient's urine would suggest that a considerable amount of diquat had been swallowed, rather more perhaps than the quantities of paraquat involved in those cases which have been reported to date. One case of paraquat poisoning has already been reported with successful treatment by forced diuresis (Kerr et al., 1968) so that it is not improbable that this form of treatment may have contributed materially to the outcome of our case. Steroids were not given since there is no strong evidence to support their effectiveness in these patients. Both peritoneal and haemodialysis have been suggested as methods of removing paraquat from the body, but in view of the evidence that this patient was excreting diquat in the urine and the ease with which he maintained such an enormous diuresis, it was decided to persist with this single form of treatment