The Poison Review

The Wellcome Trust has established a YouTube channel featuring hundreds of historic medical videos.  This German demonstration of peripheral lead neuropathy from 1925 will be of particular interest to toxicologists.  This condition was in the past an occupational disease of workers — such as housepainters and storage battery assemblers — chronically exposed to lead. In the textbook Experimental and Clinical Neurotoxicology, Schaumburg and Cory-Schlecta describe the features of this condition.  It is a predominantly motor neuropathy, affecting the upper extremities more than the lower.  The weakness starts distally and then progresses to the proximal muscles.  The radial nerve is usually involved early on, and wrist drop  – which may be asymmetric — is characteristic.  In this six minute film, many of these features are readily apparent.

Thanks to Medgadget and ScienceRoll for linking to this spectacular project.