• So Young Jeon, Wonjoon Jeong, Jung Soo Park, Yeonho You, Hong Joon Ahn, Suncheun Kim, Dongwoo Kim, Dongeun Park, Hyejin Chang, and Seung Whan Kim.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, South Korea.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Feb 1; 40: 184-187.

BackgroundAconitine is well-known for its potential analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and circulation promoting effects and has been widely used as a folk medicine in South Korea. Owing to its extremely toxic nature and relatively low safety margin, intoxication is sometimes fatal. The toxic compound mainly affects the central nervous system, heart, and muscle, resulting in cardiovascular complications.PurposeTo determine the exact relationship between blood concentration of aconitine and clinical manifestation.Basic ProceduresThe National Forensic Service (NFS) was commissioned to assist in a quantitative analysis of highly toxic aconitine and corresponding blood concentrations by analyzing the body fluids of three patients who were suspected of aconitine poisoning.Main FindingsAconitine blood values tested by the NFS showed that patients with a blood concentration below a certain level developed symptoms slowly and showed a high severity of clinical manifestation. There was no correlation between blood concentration and symptoms or ECG results.ConclusionsIn case of suspected aconitine poisoning, an emergency care department should be visited, even with symptomatic improvement, and the patient should be monitored for at least 24 h, depending on the level of recovery and changes in ECG results.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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