Acute organophosphorus intoxications in pregnant women

Abstract

Acute organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) poisoning during pregnancy are rare events, not well documented in the literature. We conducted a retrospective analysis of outcomes in seven cases of suicidal ingestion of OP in pregnant women. This intoxication was most often serious. Indeed, five of seven parturients had an initial Glasgow score < 9 and the POP score was ≥ 3 in all parturients. Five patients required mechanical ventilation for a mean duration of 3,4 days. All patients reported favorable outcomes but in more than half of the cases fetuses had unfavorable outcomes (fetal death in utero). Two mechanisms can explain these fetal complications. The first mechanism is fetal hypoxia, associated or not with a state of shock, which can be reflected in the Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) by tachycardia or decelerations and result in intrauterine fetal death. The second mechanism is the passage of these pesticides through the placental barrier representing a potential risk to the fetus due to the alteration of the microsomal enzyme systems.