Background: Acetaminophen toxicity remains one of the most common causes of liver failure and is treated with a course of n-acetylcysteine (NAC). This exceptionally effective medication is traditionally administered using a complicated three-bag protocol that is prone to administration errors.
Objective: We aimed to assess whether switching to a novel two-bag protocol (150 mg/kg over 1 h followed by 150 mg/kg over 20 h) reduced administration errors while not increasing liver injury or anaphylactoid reactions.
Introduction: Calcium channel blocker (CCB) overdoses cause significant morbidity and mortality. Dihydropyridine CCBs cause peripheral vascular dilation and at high doses cardiac dysfunction. Amlodipine, a dihydropyridine, causes peripheral vasodilation from release of nitric oxide (NO) in addition to calcium channel blockade; NO scavenging is a potential treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNadolol is a β-adrenergic antagonist that has been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of infantile hemangioma. It has been suggested that this drug may have fewer side effects compared with the gold standard therapy, propranolol, because it does not exhibit membrane-stabilizing effects and has little ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. However, the pharmacokinetics and safety of nadolol in infants are not well understood, potentially making this therapy dangerous.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Toxicity related to calcium-channel blockers remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Amlodipine-induced shock is unique in that its mechanism of action is thought to occur in part via the release of nitric oxide (NO) in the peripheral vasculature. Specific therapeutic interventions, including methylene blue (an NO scavenger), have been suggested, but efficacy studies are severely limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Dextromethorphan hydrobromide is widely available as an over-the-counter cough suppressant. A semi-synthetic opioid displaying N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonism, it is commonly abused for recreational purposes. Spuriously elevated serum chloride concentrations are a well-described phenomenon in the setting of dextromethorphan hydrobromide toxicity, but evidence to suggest the development of tolerance is limited to case reports.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough cerebral perfusion (CP) is preserved across a wide range of mean arterial pressures (MAP) through cerebral-vascular autoregulation, the relationship between MAP and CP in refractory poison-induced cardiogenic shock (PICS) has never been studied. We compared the effects of therapies used in PICS: high-dose insulin (HDI), HDI plus norepinephrine (NE), and vasopressors alone (NE plus epinephrine (Epi)) on cerebral tissue oxygenation (PO). Fifteen swine were randomized to either HDI, HDI + NE, or NE + Epi.
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