A fatal case of suicidal pentoxifylline intoxication.

Pentoxifylline is a xanthine derivative used in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease. It is considered to be a safe drug and to the best of our knowledge there are no reports in the medical literature of cases of fatal poisoning. There is only one previous report of a young woman who tried to commit suicide by taking a large amount of the drug but recovered. We report the case of a 54-year-old man who took a massive dose of pentoxifylline and died after 24 h from refractory shock. The blood levels of pentoxifylline were as high as 32.5 micrograms/ml where the average therapeutic level is 1.3 micrograms/ml.