Vincristine Poisoning
1 University of California, Department of Pediatrics, Medical Center, 101 City Drive South, Orange, CA 92668
Vincristine is an effective and potent antileukemic agent. Its FDA-approved labeling, ie, its package insert, does not contain directions for treatment of overdose. Several recent communications1-7 report accidental overdoses whose outcome was often fatal (Table).
Although treatment is thougth to be symptomatic and supportive only,1 folinic acid (leucovorin calcium, citrovorum factor), a well-known methotrexate antidote, was used successfully by Grush and Morgan5 and Wakem and Bennett7 on overdosed patients. The treatment, on the part of Grush and Morgan, was based on a brief description of folinic acid rescue of vincristine-poisoned mice.8




