It was shown in a previous communication (Crawhall et al., 1963) that the abnormally high level of cystine excretion found in homozygotes for cystinuria could be reduced for short periods by the administration of D-penicillamine. This paper reports the results of administering the drug continuously to a group of cystinuric patients for periods of five months to one year. We have used the D-isom...

Although D-penicillamine has been used for many rheumatologic diseases, toxicity limits its usefulness in many patients. Polymyositis/dermatomyositis can develop as one of the autoimmune complications of D-penicillamine treatment, but its exact pathogenesis remains unclear. We report a patient with primary biliary cirrhosis, who developed polymyositis while receiving D-penicillamine therapy. We...

A patient with sero-positive rheumatoid arthritis was treated with D-penicillamine (cumulative dose 3 . 7 3 9 . Three weeks after starting therapy she developed a fever, rash and a cholestatic jaundice. Cessation of D-penicillamine resulted in improvement. However, reintroduction of D-penicillamine 1 0 days later (cumulative dose 2g), was followed by acute hepatic failure and death. Liver biops...

Ishihara, N., Shiojima, S., and Suzuki, T. (1974). British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 31, 245-249. Selective enhancement of urinary organic mercury excretion by D-penicillamine. This report deals with the study of a patient who was suspected of having mercury vapour poisoning and was treated with D-penicillamine. D-penicillamine by mouth enhanced the urinary excretion of organic but not in...

Immune thrombocytopenia is a rare complication of progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS). A 47-year-old female with PSS treated with D-penicillamine developed immune thrombocytopenia, which promptly responded to prednisolone and withdrawal of D-penicillamine. Platelet-associated IgG was elevated and the bone marrow megakaryocyte count was normal. There was an inverse relationship between the leve...

Inorganic and organic mercury was measured in the red cells, plasma, and urine of five laboratory workers to examine the effect of D-penicillamine. The workers had had no particular exposure to mercurials. Before and during administration of D-penicillamine, inorganic mercury levels in plasma were significantly correlated with those in urine or 24-hour urinary outputs, but no significant correl...

Treatment of rabbits with D-penicillamine at doses up to 30 mg/kg, beginning either before or after the onset of antigen-induced experimental arthritis, diminished the severity of the inflammatory synovitis in a considerable proportion of animals as judged by both external joint measurements and terminal histopathological assessment. D-penicillamine treatment had no effect on serum haptoglobin ...