Pretilachlor Poisoning: A Rare Case of Herbicide Poisoning with Neurotoxicity - JAPI Reports

Pretilachlor is a synthetic chloroacetanilide herbicide. Pretilachlor is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide whose mechanism of action is still not clearly understood. A Case study in the Journal of the associations of Physician of India (JAPI) throws some light on it.

A 58-year-old Indian male presented to the emergency department with an alleged history of oral ingestion of 150 mL of undiluted pretilachlor following which the patient developed a burning sensation in the throat and two episodes of vomiting. The patient was initially taken to a local hospital within 1 hour, where gastric lavage was done with normal saline.

On the first day of hospitalization, the patient had multiple episodes of vomiting and burning sensation in the throat for which he was managed conservatively with antiemetics and proton pump inhibitors. The patient was given benzodiazepines and antiseizure medication. On neurological examination, the plantar reflex was extensor bilaterally, deep tendon reflexes were absent, and an adequate bilateral pupillary response was noted.