OBJECTIVE To systematically review English-language articles on fomepizole administration in patients with ethylene glycol poisoning. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, EMBASE, Current Contents, and PubMed. Search terms were fomepizole, 4-methylpyrazole, and ethylene glycol. The search was supplemented with a bibliographic review of all relevant articles. STUDY SELECTION All published reports of fomepiz...

Ethylene glycol (EG) and methanol are responsible for life-threatening poisonings. Fomepizole, a potent alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) inhibitor, is an efficient and safe antidote that prevents or reduces toxic EG and methanol metabolism. Although no study has compared its efficacy with ethanol, fomepizole is recommended as a first-line antidote. Treatment should be started as soon as possible, ba...

Ingestion of ethanol in the presence of disulfiram may cause a histamine-like reaction due to accumulation of acetaldehyde. These disulfiram-ethanol reactions (DERs) are manifested by hypotension, tachycardia, gastritis, and angioedema. Fomepizole, an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase, may halt progression of this reaction by blocking ethanol metabolism to acetaldehyde. We present 2 cases of d...

Ethanol and fomepizole are used as antidotes for poisoning with ethylene glycol or methanol. Both ethylene glycol and methanol are metabolized by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. Ethanol is a substrate for alcohol dehydrogenase and fomepizole is an inhibitor of this enzyme. This review pays attention to the differences between ethanol and fomepizole. The advantages and disadvantages of both an...

INTRODUCTION The use and clinical efficacy of the alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitor fomepizole is well established for the treatment of ethylene glycol and methanol poisonings in adults. METHODS A computerized search of the U.S. National Academy of medicine and EMBase databases was undertaken to identify published cases of patients treated with fomepizole. This search strategy identified 14 pub...

although antidote development should proceed in an orderly fashion from observation, to experimental and safety studies, to clinical trials, this sequence is not always precisely followed. the development of fomepizole as an antidote for toxic alcohol and glycol poisoning is an example of how this may not be the case. interest in the development of fomepizole was spurred in the 1960s. shortly t...

Although antidote development should proceed in an orderly fashion from observation, to experimental and safety studies, to clinical trials, this sequence is not always precisely followed. The development of fomepizole as an antidote for toxic alcohol and glycol poisoning is an example of how this may not be the case. Interest in the development of fomepizole was spurred in the 1960s. Shortly t...

Ethylene glycol is a widely used and readily available substance. Ethylene glycol ingestion does not cause direct toxicity; however, its metabolites are highly toxic and can be fatal even in trace amounts. Poisoning is best diagnosed through inquiry, but as an impaired state of consciousness is observed in most cases, poisoning must be suspected when a significantly elevated osmolar gap or high...

Fomepizole (4-methylpyrazole; Antizol) is used increasingly in the treatment of methanol toxicity in adults. Little experience exists with this drug in the pediatric population, however. We present a case of methanol poisoning in a child in whom the use of fomepizole averted intravenous ethanol infusion and the attendant side effects of this therapy.

methanol is responsible for a life-threatening poisoning. fomepizole, a potent alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitor, is an efficient and safe antidote that prevents or reduces toxic methanol metabolism. although no study has compared its efficacy with ethanol, fomepizole is recommended as a first-line antidote. treatment should be started as soon as possible, based on history and initial findings in...