TOXICITY OF VITAMIN K

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Abstract
Among the more patent abuses in present-day therapy is the indiscriminate administration of vitamin K and its analogues. Free use of these substances is made on the assumption that they are harmless, and the physician generally believes that he is doing something of real value for his patient by giving him vitamin K during a hemorrhagic episode, be it bleeding from a tonsillar fossa, a prostatic bed, or a duodenal ulcer. Rarely is such hemorrhage due to a defective coagulation mechanism, and the drug is generally given without prior evaluation of the prothrombin activity of the patients' blood. In the face of predetermined hypoprothrombinemia, it is likewise common practice to give vitamin K in greater than adequate doses and to continue the treatment well beyond the time required to correct a true deficiency. Hypoprothrombinemia due to a seriously diseased liver cannot be corrected by vitamin K therapy, and many patients

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