Abstract
A conservatively treated case of DIC due to snake bite is reported. A 41-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of severe hemorrhagic diathesis after she was bitten by a non-poisonous Rhabdophis tigrinus. She had snake bites on the back of the bilateral hands. A hemorhagic tendency occurred about 2 hours after the snake bite, and she was admitted to the hospital about 34 hours after the snake bite through several hospitals.
After admission we did not inject antivenom to the patient, because she was a specialist of snakes and rejected to use antivenom. We fortunately saved her life by conservative therapy including heparin for DIC.
With regard to Rhabdophis tigrinus bite, when the poisonous liquid secreted from the Duvernoy gland in the posterior part of the maxilla is injected into the human body, a hemorrhagic tendency is induced. In Japan so far 26 cases including this case have been reported since the case of Kitamuram, and all of them experienced hemorrhagic tendency. In the treatment of patients bitten by animals showing hemorr-hagic tendency, we should perform antitoxic serum injection by entertaining probable DIC.
