Journal of Clinical Toxicology
Open Access

Abstract

A Case of a Suicide Attempt by Taxus baccata Leaves Poisoning

Beñat de Alba Iriarte*, Eva Lorea Gil Rodríguez, Edurne Bereciartua Urbieta, María Elena Redín Sarasola, Txoan Ormazabal Zabala, Mikel Díez Bengoechea, María Asunción Vives Almandoz, Adolfo Garrido Chércoles and Oscar Quintela Jorge

Taxus baccata is one of the most poisonous trees in the world. It contains taxanes and toxic alkaloids: the most dangerous one is the taxine. It is a fairly common plant in our environment and could be extremely dangerous; however, yew poisoning is quite rare. Cases may occur by voluntary or accidental ingestion. Therefore, the rapid orientation and diagnosis of suspected episode are important, in order to treat it quickly. There are no specific clinical or analytical alterations in this intoxication and it is very difficult to determine in each case the evolution of the episode. Patients who ingest a lethal dose frequently die due to cardiac arrest, in spite of resuscitation efforts. At present, no specific therapy exists. Therapeutic procedures reported in the literature are only referred to in published case reports, so there is insufficient evidence to recommend any treatment in yew poisoning. In our case report, we describe poisoning by ingestion of Taxus baccata leaves in a suicide attempt, its clinical evolution and its management and we do a brief review of the literature about yew poisoning.

Published Date: 2020-06-16; Received Date: 2020-05-26