Case Reports in Clinical Medicine, 2015, 4, 342-344 Published Online October 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/crcm http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/crcm.2015.410068 How to cite this paper: Shimi, A., Touzani, S., Derkaoui, A. and Khatouf, M. (2015) Severe Colchicine Poisoning: A Case Re- port. Case Reports in Clinical Medicine, 4, 342-344. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/crcm.2015.410068 Severe Colchicine Poisoning: A Case Report Abdelkarim Shimi, Soumaya Touzani, Ali Derkaoui, Mohammed Khatouf Intensive Care Unit A1, Hassan II University Hospital, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco Email: akshimi@gmail.com Received 7 September 2015; accepted 26 October 2015; published 29 October 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Background: Colchicine intoxication is uncommon but potentially life threatening because of the high toxicity of the drug. Colchicine binds to the intracellular protein tubulin, causing disturbed mitosis in all tissues followed by multi-organ failure. Case Presentation: We report a case of a 23-year-old woman admitted to emergency room 12 hours after a suicide attempt by ingestion of approximatively 40 mg of colchicine. Few hours after consumption, first symptoms were a hemo- dynamic shock and ARDS, leading to her death due to multi-organ failure. Conclusion: The colchi- cine intoxication has strong morbidity for doses higher than 0.5 mg/kg. The treatment is sympto- matic. The immunotherapy using anti-colchicine allows improving critical form’s prognosis. Keywords Colchicine, Intoxication, Shock, Multiple Organ Failure 1. Introduction First isolated from Colchicum autumnale by Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou in 1820, but falsely identified as veratrine, colchicine was only isolated as a pure and crystalline form by Alfred Houdé in 1884 [1]. It’s registered for the treatment of acute gout. It’s also used to treat familial Mediterranean fever, Behçet disease, sarcoidosis, psoriasis, sclerodermia and amyloidosis [2] [3]. Acute colchicines-intoxication (CI) is rare and it leads to multi-visceral failure. It has a narrow therapeutic index, with no clear-cut distinction among nontoxic, toxic and lethal doses [1]. CI severity depends on ingested doses. However, low-doses (5 - 10 mg) are fatal [2]. We discuss a 23-year-old patient who ingested colchicine for suicidal purpose. 2. Case Description A 23-year-old woman with an unremarkable medical history came to the emergency room, 18 hours after a sui- cide attempt by ingestion of an estimated 40 mg of colchicine (0.68 mg per kilogram bodyweight). The symp- toms were: diffuse abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. On admission, her Glasgow coma scale was 15. Her