Skip to main content
PMC home page
Postgraduate Medical Journal logoLink to Postgraduate Medical Journal
. 1978 Aug;54(634):511–515. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.54.634.511

Herbal medicines and veno-occlusive disease in India.

D V Datta, M S Khuroo, A R Mattocks, B K Aikat, P N Chhuttani
PMCID: PMC2425287  PMID: 733681

Abstract

Six cases are described of veno-occlusive disease (VOD) after medicinal herb ingestion. The herb Heliotropium eichwaldii, taken by three patients, was found to contain the toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid, heliotrine. Two patients presented with fulminant hepatic failure while the other four patients had a clinical picture suggestive of decompensated cirrhosis. The medical use of this herb may possibly be responsible for a significant proportion of acute and chronic liver disease in India, making it of public health importance.

Full text

PDF
511

Images in this article

513Fig. 1
on p.513
513Fig. 2
on p.513
514Fig. 3
on p.514

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aikat B. K., Bhattacharya T., Walia B. N. Morphological features of Indian childhood cirrhosis: the spectrum of changes and their significance. Indian J Med Res. 1974 Jul;62(7):953–963. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aikat B. K., Ghosh R. N., Chhuttani P. N., Dutta D. V. Morphological features and probable mode of evolution of cirrhosis of the liver in adults in North India. Indian J Med Res. 1975 Dec;63(12):1747–1760. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. BRAS G., BROOKS S. E., WATLER D. C. Cirrhosis of the liver in Jamaica. J Pathol Bacteriol. 1961 Oct;82:503–512. doi: 10.1002/path.1700820226. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. GUPTA P. S., GUPTA G. D., SHARMA M. L. Veno-occlusive disease of liver. Br Med J. 1963 May 4;1(5339):1184–1186. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5339.1182. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lyford C. L., Vergara G. G., Moeller D. D. Hepatic veno-occlusive disease originating in Ecuador. Gastroenterology. 1976 Jan;70(1):105–108. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. McGee J., Patrick R. S., Wood C. B., Blumgart L. H. A case of veno-occlusive disease of the liver in Britain associated with herbal tea consumption. J Clin Pathol. 1976 Sep;29(9):788–794. doi: 10.1136/jcp.29.9.788. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. McLean E. K. The toxic actions of pyrrolizidine (senecio) alkaloids. Pharmacol Rev. 1970 Dec;22(4):429–483. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mohabbat O., Younos M. S., Merzad A. A., Srivastava R. N., Sediq G. G., Aram G. N. An outbreak of hepatic veno-occlusive disease in north-western Afghanistan. Lancet. 1976 Aug 7;2(7980):269–271. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(76)90726-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. RAMALINGASWAMI V., WIG K. L., SAMA S. K. Cirrhosis of the liver in northern India. A clinicopathologic study. Arch Intern Med. 1962 Sep;110:350–358. doi: 10.1001/archinte.1962.03620210074014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. SELZER G., PARKER R. G. F. Senecio poisoning exhibiting as Chiari's syndrome; a report on twelve cases. Am J Pathol. 1951 Sep-Oct;27(5):885–907. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Schoental R. Toxicology and carcinogenic action of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Cancer Res. 1968 Nov;28(11):2237–2246. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Tandon B. N., Krishnamurthy L., Koshy A., Tandon H. D., Ramalingaswami V., Bhandari J. R., Mathur M. M., Mathur P. D. Study of an epidemic of jaundice, presumably due to toxic hepatitis, in Northwest India. Gastroenterology. 1977 Mar;72(3):488–494. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Tandon R. K., Tandon B. N., Tandon H. D., Bhatia M. L., Bhargava S., Lal P., Arora R. R. Study of an epidemic of venoocclusive disease in India. Gut. 1976 Nov;17(11):849–855. doi: 10.1136/gut.17.11.849. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Postgraduate Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES