aka Toxicology Conundrum 005 A 20 year-old male was walking in rural New South Wales (Australia!) when he noticed a brown-coloured snake. He was startled and stepped backwards onto a tree branch which snapped under his weight. He then saw…
The phone rings as you sit down for lunch. You are asked for advice concerning a drowsy 2 year-old boy who was brought in to a Children's Emergency Department by his worried parents.
Toxicological conundrum on the pharmacological effects of Strychnine toxicity
It's Christmas, and you're called by a doctor who has recently arrived in Australia from the UK. He is in North Queensland looking after a 23 year-old female swimmer who doesn't look at all well...
Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) Terminology and Nomenclature
Gastric lavage is a GI decontamination technique that aims to empty the stomach of toxic substances by the sequential administration and aspiration of small volumes of fluid via an orogastric tube. Previously widely favoured method that has now been all but abandoned due to lack of evidence of efficacy and risk of complications.
Organophosphate Poisoning: common cause of poisoning in the developing world; covalent bonding with inactivation of acetylcholinesterase; results in cholinergic crisis
Transfusion Literature Summaries
Routine Daily Chest X-ray: controversial issue; viewed as an essential tool but is subject to overuse and misinterpretation; no evidence of harm from a more restrictive strategy
Pregnancy results in increased susceptibility to endotoxin, metabolic acidosis and cardiovascular collapse
CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING Scheinkestel, C.D. et al (1999) “Hyperbaric or normobaric oxygen for acute carbon monoxide poisoning: a randomized controlled clinical trial” Med J Aust, 170:203-210 Weaver, L.K. et al (2002) “Hyperbaric oxygen for acute carbon monoxide poisoning” NEJM 347:1057-1067…
Barbiturates cause severe CNS and respiratory depression and may mimic brain death