Elimination of paraquat.

There is a striking discrepancy between: the efficacy of the kidneys, haemodialysis (HD) and Haemoperfusion (HP) in removing paraquat from the body and the poor prognosis of paraquat poisoning even when the blood and urine levels (which are good indices of concentrations in lung and other tissues) are very low. Extra-corporeal elimination techniques have been used worldwide in paraquat poisoning. Do they remove paraquat effectively? Certainly. Do they increase the survival rate? Probably not. The reason being that when these techniques of elimination are initiated, potentially lethal concentrations of paraquat have already been attained in the highly vascular tissues of vital organs and in pneumocytes. The data presented suggest that the successful treatment of paraquat poisoning does not depend on modification of toxicokinetics.