Colchicine poisoning

What it is

Colchicine poisoning is a potentially life-threatening poisoning, due to ingestion of the drug or consumption of the plant Colchicum autumnale, that usually begins with gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g. abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, that cause severe dehydration) and an initial leukocytosis leading to marrow failure (24 hours after ingestion), followed by potentially fatal multi-organ failure with mental status change, oliguric renal failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation, electrolyte imbalance, acid-base disturbance, cardiac failure/arrest and shock within 1-3 days.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 1 000 000 (Europe)

Age of onset

All ages

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Particular clinical situation in a disease or syndrome

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references