Clinical Picture of Chronic Poisoning with Dinitrodiglycol

摘要

Four employees of a dinitroglycol and nitroglycerine producing and processing plant died suddenly between 1958 and 1961 (three of them during after-work hours). Autopsies did not reveal any signs of a blockage of coronary arteries, but slight to significant signs of coronary sclerosis. Thirty-seven workers, most of them reporting precardiac pains, headaches and in some cases breakdowns with loss of consciousness, had been examined. In three of them clear signs were found of coronary sclerosis, in eight of them symptoms of intermediary coronary syndrome, and in one an infarct of the myocardium occurred. In almost all examined persons the cholesterol level was found at the upper limit of normal, around 220 mg %; in some of them the level was much higher. After the counter-indicative measures regulating working with DNG were implemented at the high-risk workposts, only specific subjective difficulties (headaches after a holiday, intolerance for alcohol) were reported. Objectively, no cardiogram changes or deviations in the serum lipid spectrum were found. It is recommended that in people with a disposition to atherosclerosis, blood cholesterol level, ocular fundus and electrocardiogram be examined.