There has been much enthusiasm recently for metrazol therapy of the functional psychoses. This is based on the dramatic remissions, on its ease of administration and on its adaptability to the treatment of large groups of patients. The literature, however, is still too meager to acquaint one with all the potential dangers attendant on the treatment. Meduna has treated more than 400 patients without a single death; in all, upward of 1,500 patients must have received metrazol therapy.1 Severe headache, nausea and vomiting, fractures and dislocations, and many minor complications are common, but to date only three fatal cases have been reported. We record in detail, with autopsy, a case under metrazol therapy which terminated fatally.
REPORT OF CASE
History.—
D. G., a white man aged 24, since June 1936 had complained of nervousness, weakness, trembling, pains in the head, back and abdomen and a subjective sensation of