Camphor intoxication treated by charcoal haemoperfusion.

Introduction Camphor is used as a proprietary preparation, most often as a 20% solution in arachis oil, and is applied to the skin for the supposed relief of muscle pain and symptoms of the common cold. Intoxication is usually accidental and, although reports are rare, Silbert (1973) drew attention to the risk of camphor poisoning in children. Symptoms following ingestion include tremors, hallucinations, major fits and renal damage. Death can follow sustained convulsions and central paralysis. The minimum lethal dose is thought to be approximately 50 mg/kg, i.e. 15 ml of the 20%/ solution in a 60 kg adult (Gosselin et al., 1976). Immediate therapy for camphor poisoning includes emesis or gastric lavage, catharsis and the treatment of convulsions with diazepam (Vale and Goulding, 1979). Camphor is highly lipid-soluble and previous workers have suggested lipid haemodialysis as an efficient means of increasing its elimination (Ginn, Anderson and Mercier, 1968). Haemoperfusion using an Amberlite resin column has also been described (Kopelman et al., 1979). A case is now reported of accidental ingestion of a potentially lethal dose of camphor in which charcoal haemoperfusion was used.