Hemoperfusion in severe chlorprothixene overdose.

Two to twelve hours after suicidal ingestion of an estimated dose of 10 g chlorprothixene, a 31-year-old female was admitted to the emergency ward of the clinic with cardiorespiratory arrest. After successful resuscitation, the further clinical course was complicated by persistent ventricular extrasystoles and ventricular fibrillation which necessitated repeated defibrillation. Since the patient did not respond satisfactorily to supportive treatment, a combined hemoperfusion/hemodialysis was performed. Under extracorporeal detoxication, elimination of chlorprothixene from plasma was accompanied by substantial improvement of the patient's clinical condition, although only about 1.6% of the estimated dose had been removed. This case seems to indicate that evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of hemoperfusion should not be based exclusively on the relation of the amount of the eliminated drug to total absorbed dose.