extracorporeal treatment of mercury intoxication

2,3-Dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) has been utilized in chelation therapy and in extracorporal complexing hemodialysis therapy for experimental methylmercury intoxication. In the latter application, substantial excretion of methylmercury occurred by the urinary route. This prompted the current study of the effects of continuous intravenous DMSA infusion therapy on methylmercury kinetics in the dog. Animals previously dosed with 203Hg-labeled methylmercury at 2.5 mg Hg/kg received a priming dose of DMSA, followed by a continuous iv infusion at dose rates that resulted in DMSA concentrations in plasma similar to those observed during DMSA complexing hemodialysis therapy...

A 70-year-old white female presented approximately 24 h after ingesting three 475 mg tablets (1.425 g) of mercuric chloride in a suicide attempt. Acute renal failure necessitated the initiation of haemodialysis approximately 4 d after the ingestion. Treatment with BAL (2,3-dimercaptopropanol) resulted in only small increases in mercury output into dialysate. A new procedure involving the extracorporeal infusion of the chelating agent dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) into the arterial blood line during haemodialysis was initiated...