Drug overdose treatment

Hollow Fiber Entrapped Microsomes as a Liver Assist Device in Drug Overdose Treatment... 

Multiple emulsions are complex systems wherein droplets of (he dispersed phase contain additional but smaller droplets, identical to or different from the continuous phase. Even so there are many interesting fields of potential research and applications, such as vaccine formulations, enzyme immobilization, and drug overdose treatment (122). Ttie disadvantages of current multiple emulsions are obvious. Internal droplet growth and release as well as degradation to heterogeneous O/W or W/O formulations results in shear sensitivity and bad long-term multiplicities. Besides, those systems are problematic to produce al industrial scale. 

Drug overdose Treatment of lithium overdose must be individualized to the chnical condition. Three case reports have highlighted the number of options that are available to clinicians. 

SuccessM treatment of PEA and asystole depends almost entirely on diagnosis of the underlying cause. Potentially reversible causes include (1) hypovolemia, (2) hypoxia, (3) preexisting acidosis, (4) hyperkalemia, (5) hypothermia, (6) hypoglycemia, (7) drug overdose, (8) cardiac tamponade, (9) tension pneumothorax, (10) coronary thrombosis, (11) pulmonary thrombosis, and (12) trauma. 

Nalorphine was the first compound used for narcotic (heroin in particular) overdose treatment however, it exhibits a number of side effects such as visual hallucinations, and therefore its use is prohibited in some countries. The most popular synonym for this drug is narkan. 

A number of drugs in addition to atropine and scopolamine have antimuscarinic properties. Tbese include tricyclic antidepressants, phenothiazines, and antihistamines. Physostigmine has been used in the treatment of acute toxicity produced by these compounds. However, physostigmine can produce cardiac arrhythmias and other serious toxic effects of its own, and therefore, it should be considered as an antidote only in life-threatening cases of anticholinergic drug overdose. 

Paradoxical effects cognitive impairment and perseverative behavior are occasionally seen in children treated with psychostimulants. According to Greenhill et al. (1999) such phenomena are indicative of a drug overdose and will improve at dose reduction. Constriction of attention or overfocusing as a consequence of treatment with psychostimulants has been another critical issue (Breggin, 1999). Based on an extensive review of the literature and their own experience, Wilens and Biederman (1992) assert that there is no evidence of such phenomena at doses up to 1.0 mg/kg of methylphenidate. 

Other drug-delivery systems may include double emulsions, usually W/O/W, for transporting hydrophilic dmgs such as vaccines, vitamins, enzymes, hormones [441], The multiple emulsion also allows for slow release of the delivered drug and the time-release mechanism can be varied by adjusting the emulsion stability. Conversely, in detoxification (overdose) treatments, the active substance migrates from the outside to the inner phase. 

If urine flow increases, the time that a drug is exposed to the reabsorptive surface of the kidney is decreased. This principle forms the basis for the treatment of certain extreme cases of acute drug overdose. In these situations patients undergo forced diuresis with large volumes of fluid in order to accelerate drug clearance (e.g., meprobamate poisoning). 

The principal therapies employed for the treatment of drug overdose are shown in Table 8.1. They can be divided into three major categories (1) initial decontamination (2) measures to enhance elimination and (3) specific antidotes. During the past several years there has been a change in emphasis within some of these categories. In any event, they are all used within the broader context of appropriate supportive care. 

Which of the following is/are employed for the treatment of drug overdose a specific antidotes... 

Alangium lamarckii is a medicinal plant that accumulates tetrahydroisoquinoline monoterpene alkaloids for the production of compounds such as emetine, a constituent of ipecacuantha emetic mixture that is used to for the treatment of drug overdose. Historically, this mixture has also been used to treat amoebic dysentery by South American Indians. 

Some ADRs occur in children because of inadvertent drug overdoses or other drug administration problems, such as inadequate treatment, that could have been avoided with better information on appropriate pediatric use. This is of particular concern in infants and neonates, because correct pediatric dosing cannot necessarily be extrapolated from adult dosing information using an... 

Drug overdose Acute toxicity requiring emergency medical treatment is rare. When it occurs there is a typical sympathomimetic syndrome, which should be treated with fluids, control of hyperthermia, bed rest, and, if necessary, sedation with benzodiazepines (1). 

When tablets or capsules are found in the immediate vicinity of, or in the possession of, an unconscious patient, it is reasonable to assume that a drug overdose has been taken. If the patient responds to supportive treatment and no active measures are contemplated, toxicological analyses are of historical interest only. Conversely, when circumstantial evidence is lacking, a diagnosis of poisoning may be difficult to sustain simply on die basis of clinical examination, since coma induced by drugs is not readily differentiated from that caused by disease processes. The role of the laboratory is important in several types of poisoning cases. 

The effect of varying urinary pH has been used in the treatment of drug overdose by applying forced alkaline diuresis as an adjunct to the treatment of salicylate or phenobarbitone poisoning. The success of the treatment is limited by the extent to which these drugs are distributed, and by the presence of... 

In 12 cases of death attributed to thioridazine overdose, postmortem concentrations (total thioridazine and metabolites) were blood 1 to 18 pg/ml (mean 4.7), kidney 18 to 70 xg/g (mean 47, 4 cases), liver 25 to 513 pg/g (mean 100), urine 5 to 236 pg/ml (mean 62,5 cases). In 4 subjects who were undergoing chronic treatment and who died from causes other than drug overdose, postmortem concentrations were blood 0.6 to 3.6 pg/ ml (mean 1.6), liver 1 to 12 pg/g (mean 5.2) (R. C. Baselt et al., J. analyt. Toxicol., 1978, 2, 41-43). 

Such information is clinically useful. Consider drug overdose. Removing a drug by haemodialysis is likely to be a beneficial exercise oifly if a major proportion of the total body load is in the plasma, e.g. with salicylate which has a small distribution volume but haemodialysis is an inappropriate treatment for overdose with dothiepin which has a large distribution volume. These, however, are generalisations and if the knowledge of distribution volume is to be of practical value it must be quantified more precisely. 

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