British anti-Lewisite
By Domingo Tabangcura, Jr. and G. Patrick Daubert, MD
Clinical Use
Dimercaprol is the drug of choice for treatment of acute arsenic, inorganic or
elemental mercury, gold, and inorganic lead (in combination with EDTA)
poisoning (figure 7) In addition BAL has been used successfully in cases of
arsine, antimony, bismuth, chromium, copper, nickel, tungsten, or zinc
poisoning.[8, 13] One of the major advantages of chelation with BAL is its
ability to remove heavy metals from intracellular sites because of its
lipophilic nature.[15] Dimercaprol is an alternative in the treatment of
Wilson's disease in patients intolerant of penicillamine and trientine.[13]
Figure 7. Vial of BAL
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