Riluzole-induced methemoglobinemia.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D A Tanen.
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Rattlesnake envenomations are common in some areas of the United States. Although fatal rattlesnake envenomations are rare and usually preventable, morbidity may be significant. Patients may present with localized edema, hypotension, coagulopathy, or thrombocytopenia. Patients with progressive swelling or severe coagulopathy are typically treated with Crotalidae polyvalent antivenin. We present a series of 4 patients with unusual complications of rattlesnake envenomation to illustrate the wide spectrum of disease that may be encountered. These case presentations include anaphylaxis to rattlesnake venom, an acute airway emergency, progressive and marked edema with a large pleural fluid collection, and death.
A 40-year-old man with a history of schizophrenia and inflammatory soft tissue lesions after self-injection of elemental mercury presented to the Emergency Department. Multiple skin abscesses associated with fever required operative debridement. An incidental finding of oral mercury ingestion was followed clinically and did not result in complications. Exposure to elemental mercury through injection or ingestion is an uncommon event, but one the Emergency Physician may encounter. Subcutaneous mercury injection should be managed with local wound debridement, whereas ingestions are rarely of clinical significance.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether intravenous N -acetylcysteine (NAC) produces a clinically significant decline in sodium nitrite-induced methemoglobinemia in human volunteers. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, control crossover trial with each subject serving as his own control. Methemoglobinemia was induced with intravenous sodium nitrite (4 mg/kg) administered over 10 minutes starting at time 0. At time 30 minutes, subjects were randomly assigned to treatment with intravenous NAC for 100 minutes (150 mg/kg over 1 hour followed by 14 mg/kg per hour for 40 minutes) or administration of an equal volume of 5% dextrose in water. Each subject received the alternative treatment after an interval of at least 1 week. Blood methemoglobin concentrations were measured by multiwavelength co-oximetry at time 0, 15, 30, 50, 70, 90, 110, and 130 minutes. Area under the methemoglobin concentration-time curve (AUC) between 30 and 130 minutes was compared between groups using a 2-tailed, paired t test. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the control and treatment groups with respect to baseline hemoglobin or methemoglobin concentrations, as well as nitrite-induced methemoglobin concentrations at the initiation of treatment (0.85+/-0.06 g/dL, 0.88+/-0.04 g/dL; mean+/-SEM; P =.31). Mean AUC for the control group (77.1+/-5.7 g x min/dL) was significantly lower than the mean AUC for the treatment group (84.5+/-4.7 g x min/dL); P =.01). CONCLUSION: Intravenous NAC failed to enhance methemoglobin reduction in this model.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine whether hypertonic sodium bicarbonate would improve the hypotension associated with severe verapamil toxicity compared with volume expansion. METHODS: The study design used a nonblinded acute animal preparation. Twenty-four anesthetized and instrumented swine were poisoned with verapamil delivered at a rate of 1 mg/kg per hour for 10 minutes followed by incremental increases of 1 mg/kg per hour every 10 minutes until the endpoint of a mean arterial blood pressure of 45% of baseline was achieved. Animals alternately received either 4 mEq/kg of hypertonic sodium bicarbonate intravenously over 4 minutes or similar volumes of 0.6% sodium chloride in 10% mannitol (control). The main outcome parameter followed was mean arterial pressure. In addition, physiologic parameters including cardiac output, heart rate, pH, PCO (2), PO (2), plasma ionized calcium, sodium, and potassium were monitored. RESULTS: Verapamil toxicity, as defined by a mean arterial pressure of 45% of baseline, was produced in all animals following an average verapamil infusion dose of 0.6+/-0.12 mg/kg. This dose produced an average plasma verapamil concentration of 728.1+/-155.4 microgram/L, with no significant difference between groups. Swine treated with hypertonic sodium bicarbonate experienced a significant increase in mean arterial pressure (>50%) and cardiac output (>30%) over the first 20 minutes that slowly equilibrated with the control group over the remainder of the experiment. As expected, plasma sodium concentrations were elevated significantly in the sodium bicarbonate group while plasma potassium concentrations were decreased significantly. Finally, there was a significant decrease in plasma ionized calcium concentration in the sodium bicarbonate-treated group compared with controls. CONCLUSION: Hypertonic sodium bicarbonate reversed the hypotension and cardiac output depression of severe verapamil toxicity in a swine model.
CASE REPORT: We report a 38-year-old man who experienced prolonged toxicity lasting over 16 hours from the time of ingestion of 1/4 ounce of crack cocaine. His illness included status epilepticus, wide and narrow complex bradyarrhythmias, ventricular arrhythmias, and delayed hyperthermia. His bradyarrhythmias were refractory to medicinal intervention and responsive to application of an external pacemaker. The patient recovered to his baseline state over the ensuing 48 hours.
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A 66-year-old man ingested 200 mL of Dexol Industries Weed and Grass Killer Concentrate (Torrance, CA), which contains 1.84% diquat dibromide, a herbicide structurally similar to paraquat. He remained asymptomatic for 8 hours, and then a sore throat and vomiting developed. Twenty hours after ingestion, esophagitis, mucositis, epiglottitis, and acute renal failure developed, from which he slowly recovered. This is the first report of systemic diquat toxicity from ingestion of a diluted diquat solution.
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