TUNGSTEN DETERMINATION IN BIOLOGICAL-FLUIDS, HAIR AND NAILS BY PLASMAEMISSION-SPECTROMETRY IN A CASE OF SEVERE ACUTE INTOXICATION IN MAN

A healthy 19-year-old recruit in a French artillery regiment drank 250 mL of a mixture of beer and wine that had rinsed in a hot 155-mm gun- barrel. Fifteen minutes later, he complained of nausea followed by sei zures. He was comatous for 24 h, presenting signs of encephalopathy. A moderate renal failure was noted initially and worsened to an extensi ve tubular necrosis with anuria on the day after the incident. The fir st toxicological investigations only showed a 0.31 g/L blood ethanol. Then inductively-coupled plasma (TCP) emission-spectrometry revealed v ery high concentrations of tungsten in the ''beverage'' as well as in gastric content, blood and urine (1540 mg/L, 8 mg/L, 5 mg/L, and 101 m g/L, respectively). The nature of the metal was confirmed by ICP coupl ed to mass spectrometry. A simple and reliable ICP quantitative assay of tungsten in biological fluids, hair and nails was then developed. I t showed high blood levels (>0.005 mg/L) until day 13 in spite of six hemodialyses, and in urine until D-33. Tungsten was also incorporated in hair and nails. To the best of our knowledge, such an intoxication has never been reported before though this drinking seems to be tradit ional in the French Artillery. It has probably been favored by the unu sually high volume of beverage absorbed and by the new alloy of the gu n, containing tungsten. The clinical evolution was satisfactory over w eeks and the patient was declared totally cured after five months.