Development of lanthanide detoxification agents and protocols is of great importance in management of overdoses. Due to safety of maltol as a detoxifying agent in metal overloads, it can be used as a lanthanide detoxifying agent. In order to demonstrate the biodistribution of final complex, [(153)Sm]-samarium maltolate was prepared using Sm-153 chloride (radiochemical purity >99.9%; ITLC and sp...

Life-threatening errors with flecainide suspension in children Flecainide is an oral class 1c antiarrhythmic drug that may be used to treat atrial fibrillation or supraventricular tachycardia, particularly when conventional treatment agents fail. Since it is available commercially only as 50 mg, 100 mg, and 150 mg tablets, it must be compounded into a suspension when needed for infants and smal...

Poisoning is an uncommon but potentially fatal outcome of toxic alcohol ingestion. The toxic alcohols methanol, ethylene glycol and isopropyl alcohol are commonly found in household and commercial products. Because the toxic effects are caused by the metabolites of methanol and ethylene glycol rather than the agents themselves, there is often a substantial delay between ingestion and onset of c...

A suburban Ontario community hospital encountered 21 +/- 1 overdoses of children's multiple vitamins yearly between 1978 and 1981. Of these, 35% involved one particular cartoon character preparation. Parents were surveyed to determine whether this particular preparation resulted in a disproportionate number of accidental overdoses. However, the use of vitamins with a cartoon character format di...

1. Maeda A, Bateman BT, Clancy CR, Creanga AA, Leffert LR: Opioid abuse and dependence during pregnancy: Temporal trends and obstetrical outcomes. Anesthesiology 2014; 121:1158–65 2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Vital signs: Overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers and other drugs among women—United States, 1999–2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2013; 62:537–42 3. Cent...

There has been much debate about the use of activated charcoal in patients who have taken overdoses and then present to Emergency Departments. There are clinical trials, research and position statements that have examined the effectiveness of activated charcoal in a number of overdoses of different medications, but there is still a debate surrounding the evidence based practice of administering...

A five-year follow-up of 262 patients in the western region of Adelaide, who attempted suicide in 1976 by taking an overdose of a drug, showed that seven of these subsequently died by suicide and two from other causes. Six of the nine patients who died were migrants. Drug overdoses were most likely to be taken by young women from lower socioeconomic groups. A background of marital separation wa...

Hospitals routinely treat patients suffering from overdoses of drugs or other toxic chemicals as a result of illicit drug consumption, suicide attempts or accidental exposures. However, for many life-threatening situations, specific antidotes are not available and treatment is largely based on emptying the stomach, administering activated charcoal or other general measures of intoxication suppo...