Risk factors for emesis after therapeutic use of activated charcoal in acutely poisoned children

[Unconsciousness and clouded awareness]

Stupor and coma are clinical states in which patients have impaired responsiveness or are unresponsive to external stimulation and are either difficult to arouse or are unarousable. The term stupor refer to states between alertness and coma. An alteration in arousal represents an acute life-threatening emergency, requiring prompt intervention for preservation of life and brain function.

Effect of activated charcoal on apixaban pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects

Background

Activated charcoal is commonly used to manage overdose or accidental ingestion of medicines. This study evaluated the effect of activated charcoal on apixaban exposure in human subjects.

Methods

This was an open-label, three-treatment, three-period, randomized, crossover study of single-dose apixaban (20 mg) administered alone and with activated charcoal given at 2 or 6 h post-dose to healthy subjects. Blood samples for assay of plasma apixaban concentration were collected up to 72 h post-dose. Pharmacokinetic parameters, including peak plasma concentration (C_max), time to C_max (T_max), area under the concentration–time curve from time 0 to infinity (AUC_INF), and terminal half-life (T_½), were derived from apixaban plasma concentration–time data. A general linear mixed-effect model analysis of C_max and AUC_INF was performed to estimate the effect of activated charcoal on apixaban exposure.

Results

A total of 18 subjects were treated and completed the study. AUC_INF for apixaban without activated charcoal decreased by 50 and 28 %, respectively, when charcoal was administered at 2 and 6 h post-dose. Apixaban C_max and T_max were similar across treatments. The mean T_½ for apixaban alone (13.4 h) decreased to ~5 h when activated charcoal was administered at 2 or 6 h post-dose. Overall, apixaban was well tolerated in this healthy population, and most adverse events were consistent with the known profile of activated charcoal.

Conclusion

Administration of activated charcoal up to 6 h after apixaban reduced apixaban exposure and facilitated the elimination of apixaban. These results suggest that activated charcoal may be useful in the management of apixaban overdose or accidental ingestion.

Gastrointestinal decontamination in the acutely poisoned patient

Objective

To define the role of gastrointestinal (GI) decontamination of the poisoned patient.

Data Sources

A computer-based PubMed/MEDLINE search of the literature on GI decontamination in the poisoned patient with cross referencing of sources.

Study Selection and Data Extraction

Clinical, animal and in vitro studies were reviewed for clinical relevance to GI decontamination of the poisoned patient.

Data Synthesis

The literature suggests that previously, widely used, aggressive approaches including the use of ipecac syrup, gastric lavage, and cathartics are now rarely recommended. Whole bowel irrigation is still often recommended for slow-release drugs, metals, and patients who "pack" or "stuff" foreign bodies filled with drugs of abuse, but with little quality data to support it. Activated charcoal (AC), single or multiple doses, was also a previous mainstay of GI decontamination, but the utility of AC is now recognized to be limited and more time dependent than previously practiced. These recommendations have resulted in several treatment guidelines that are mostly based on retrospective analysis, animal studies or small case series, and rarely based on randomized clinical trials.

Conclusions

The current literature supports limited use of GI decontamination of the poisoned patient.

Toxicology today: what you need to know now

Clinicians are frequently confronted with toxicological emergencies and challenged with the task of correctly identifying the possible agents involved and providing appropriate treatments. In this review article, we describe the epidemiology of overdoses, provide a practical approach to the recognition and diagnosis of classic toxidromes, and discuss the initial management strategies that should be considered in all overdoses. In addition, we evaluate some of the most common agents involved in poisonings and present their respective treatments. Recognition of toxidromes with knowledge of indications for antidotes and their limitations for treating overdoses is crucial for the acute care of poisoned patients.

Drugs and pharmaceuticals: management of intoxication and antidotes

The treatment of patients poisoned with drugs and pharmaceuticals can be quite challenging. Diverse exposure circumstances, varied clinical presentations, unique patient-specific factors, and inconsistent diagnostic and therapeutic infrastructure support, coupled with relatively few definitive antidotes, may complicate evaluation and management. The historical approach to poisoned patients (patient arousal, toxin elimination, and toxin identification) has given way to rigorous attention to the fundamental aspects of basic life support--airway management, oxygenation and ventilation, circulatory competence, thermoregulation, and substrate availability. Selected patients may benefit from methods to alter toxin pharmacokinetics to minimize systemic, target organ, or tissue compartment exposure (either by decreasing absorption or increasing elimination). These may include syrup of ipecac, orogastric lavage, activated single- or multi-dose charcoal, whole bowel irrigation, endoscopy and surgery, urinary alkalinization, saline diuresis, or extracorporeal methods (hemodialysis, charcoal hemoperfusion, continuous venovenous hemofiltration, and exchange transfusion). Pharmaceutical adjuncts and antidotes may be useful in toxicant-induced hyperthermias. In the context of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anticholinergic, anticonvulsant, antihyperglycemic, antimicrobial, antineoplastic, cardiovascular, opioid, or sedative-hypnotic agents overdose, N-acetylcysteine, physostigmine, L-carnitine, dextrose, octreotide, pyridoxine, dexrazoxane, leucovorin, glucarpidase, atropine, calcium, digoxin-specific antibody fragments, glucagon, high-dose insulin euglycemia therapy, lipid emulsion, magnesium, sodium bicarbonate, naloxone, and flumazenil are specifically reviewed. In summary, patients generally benefit from aggressive support of vital functions, careful history and physical examination, specific laboratory analyses, a thoughtful consideration of the risks and benefits of decontamination and enhanced elimination, and the use of specific antidotes where warranted. Data supporting antidotes effectiveness vary considerably. Clinicians are encouraged to utilize consultation with regional poison centers or those with toxicology training to assist with diagnosis, management, and administration of antidotes, particularly in unfamiliar cases.

A 19-month-old boy with recurrent respiratory distress

We present a 19-month-old boy with a history of asthma who presented to the pediatric emergency department with noisy breathing and tachypnea partially responsive to albuterol. He was discharged to routine care at home. His parents brought him back the next day for persistent respiratory distress despite routine home albuterol. A check of electrolytes showed a low bicarbonate level.

Gastrointestinal decontamination of the poisoned patient

Gastrointestinal decontamination has been a historically accepted modality in the emergency management of oral intoxicants. Theoretically, gastric and whole-bowel emptying procedures hinder absorption, remove toxic substances, prevent clinical deterioration, and hasten recovery. This article presents a current overview of gastrointestinal decontamination. It challenges the accepted precepts of gut decontamination and assesses the utility of syrup of ipecac-induced emesis, orogastric lavage, single-dose-activated charcoal, cathartics, and whole-bowel irrigation.

Emergency department management of the salicylate-poisoned patient

Salicylate toxicity continues to be encountered commonly in emergency medicine. This article portrays the signs and symptoms of salicylate toxicity, reviews the erratic absorption and elimination kinetics, describes the devastating physiologic effects of overdose, and illustrates the potentially subtle manifestations of chronic aspirin toxicity.

Activated charcoal for pediatric poisonings: the universal antidote?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

For decades, activated charcoal has been used as a 'universal antidote' for the majority of poisons because of its ability to prevent the absorption of most toxic agents from the gastrointestinal tract and enhance the elimination of some agents already absorbed. This manuscript will review the history of activated charcoal, its indications, contraindications, and the complications associated with its use as reported in the literature.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent randomized prospective studies, although with small numbers, have shown no difference in length of hospital stay, morbidity, and mortality between groups who received and did not receive activated charcoal. No study has had sufficient numbers to satisfactorily address clinical outcome in patients who received activated charcoal less than 1 h following ingestion.

SUMMARY

If used appropriately, activated charcoal has relatively low morbidity. Due to the lack of definitive studies showing a benefit in clinical outcome, it should not be used routinely in ingestions. AC could be considered for patients with an intact airway who present soon after ingestion of a toxic or life-threatening dose of an adsorbable toxin. The appropriate use of activated charcoal should be determined by the analysis of the relative risks and benefits of its use in each specific clinical scenario.