Nephrotic syndrome following sodium bismuth tartrate therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

Parenteral therapy with sodium bismuth tartrate has now been undertaken in rheumatoid arthritis for some time. This salt, according to Martindale (Vol. 2, 1943), is a white powder or yellowish scale preparation containing 35-42 per cent. bismuth. Its general safety can be deduced from the report of Goodman (1948) that almost X ton, representing more than lI million adult doses, had been administered in the Gold Coast between 1933 and 1942 with no recorded fatalities. The following case is considered worthy of report as an example of fatal renal damage caused by the drug, which was administered in the usual therapeutic dosage.