VITAMIN D ("ERTRON") THERAPY IN ARTHRITIS

Abstract

Several instances of high potency vitamin D ("ertron") intoxication have been published lately in the medical literature; all patients recovered except 1 infant, who died and whose postmortem findings showed calcification in the renal tubules.¹ To our knowledge the case which we report is the first in which death followed the long-continued use of this preparation by an adult and in which autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of vitamin D intoxication. The case is reported because it further proves the danger of high doses of vitamin D and of the regrettable practice of noncontrolled self medication with some of the vitamins, and because it disproves the unwarranted claim of harmlessness made by some of the manufacturers of high potency vitamin D preparations. REPORT OF A CASE First Admission.— A woman aged 63 was admitted to Goldwater Memorial Hospital Dec. 28, 1942. She was badly crippled by a rheumatoid arthritis of thirteen