Successful Treatment of Paraquat Poisoning by Xuebijing, an Injection Concocted from Multiple Chinese Medicinal Herbs: A Case Report

Background and objectives: 1,1'-Dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium dichloride (Paraquat) poisoning remains a significant global health problem. Despite noteworthy research and clinical efforts worldwide in the last few decades, little improvement has been made in reducing fatality from Paraquat poisoning with conventional treatment strategies. We herein report a case of successful management of Paraquat poisoning by Xuebijing, a newly developed injection concocted from multiple traditional Chinese medicinal herbs. Settings/location, subjects, and interventions: A 25-year-old male patient was brought to the Emergency Department at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University in Changchun, China approximately 23 hours after ingestion of approximately 50 mL of 20% (w/v) Paraquat in a suicide attempt. On admission, the patient presented with clinical symptoms as well as significantly abnormal results in the liver and kidney function tests that were typical of severe Paraquat poisoning. Following the routine emergency procedures for pesticide poisoning to minimize the poison exposure and relieve the poisoning symptoms, an intravenous drip of Xuebijing together with dexamethasone was given daily to the patient until discharge 10 days after admission. The patient was followed up for 15 months after discharge, during which monthly chest radiography was performed. Treatment outcomes: At the time of discharge, the patient had recovered well: His symptoms of poisoning in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract were all diminishing; his liver and kidney functions were recovering with the major test parameters improving; his chest radiograph was clear, showing no signs of pulmonary fibrosis. During the postdischarge follow-up period, the monthly chest radiographs were all normal. Conclusions: This case report suggests that Xuebijing has great potential as a novel effective alternative to the conventional management of Paraquat poisoning. This potential needs to be further evaluated in a substantially larger number of clinical cases in the future.