Excretion kinetics of urinary metabolites in a patient addicted to trichloroethylene

Ikeda, M., Ohtsuji, H., Kawai, H., and Kuniyoshi, M. (1971).Brit. J. industr. Med.,28, 203-206. Excretion kinetics of urinary metabolites in a patient addicted to trichlorethylene. A male Japanese subject, single, aged 38, who worked at a workshop washing metal parts with trichloroethylene, was admitted to our clinic due to addiction to the solvent. Analyses of urine revealed the presence of up to 160 μg/ml of trichloro-compounds (mostly trichloroacetic acid) which gradually disappeared in three weeks as the psychotic symptoms cleared up. The excretion half-lives of trichloroethylene metabolites for the initial rapid phase (succeeding slow phase in parentheses) were 5·8 (49·7) hours for trichloroethanol, 22·5 (72·6) hours for trichloroacetic acid, and 7·5 (72·6) hours for total trichloro-compounds.