LITFL contributor Aaron Sparshott (@IVline) has made a nice little video presentation on the ins and outs of Pecha Kucha, and how to make an online PK SMACCtalk. It is perfect for all the SMACCheads out there needing that extra…
1933 – Kartagener described the syndrome of situs inversus, chronic rhinosinusitis, and chronic bronchitis with bronchiectasis
High-dose insulin therapy is a novel therapeutic intervention that produces a significant inotropic response in severe calcium channel blocker (CCB) overdose and occasionally in beta blocker overdose.
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 156 - Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, some medical trivia FFFF.
Idarucizumab is the antidote to dabigatran. Perhaps the hardest thing about it is saying its name. Eye-da-roo-ciz-oo-mab or praxbind until to comes off label. It is a humanised monoclonal antibody fragment (Fab) that binds to dabigatran with very high affinity (340x fold more than dabigatran binds to thrombin).
Hydroxocobalamin is a vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) precursor. In high doses, it is an effective chelator of cyanide. It is also the preferred antidote to cyanide poisoning due to its low side effect profile, thus if given to a patient without cyanide poisoning there is low risk of an adverse outcome
Symptomatic hypoglycaemia resulting from toxic exposures must be immediately corrected by administration of glucose. In all but the mildest of cases this is achieved with an intravenous bolus of hypertonic glucose solution
Polypeptide hormone secreted by the alpha-cells of the pancreas. Supra-physiological doses have previously been advocated in the management of beta-blocker and calcium channel blocker poisoning but this practice is now largely abandoned.
Fomepizole is an alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitor used in management of methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning. It is not currently available in either Australia or New Zealand.
Folinic acid is the active form of folic acid. It is routinely used for “folinic acid rescue therapy” following administration of high-doses of parenteral methotrexate in oncologic practice.
Flumazenil is a competitive benzodiazepine antagonist with a limited role in the management of benzodiazepine poisoning. Usually to reverse procedural sedation, accidental paediatric ingestion with compromise, and rarely to help make a diagnosis of benzodiazepine overdose or if a patient's airway is compromised without quick access to intubation equipment
Competitively blocks the formation of toxic metabolites in toxic alcohol ingestion by having a higher affinity for the enzyme Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH). Its chief application is in methanol and ethylene glycol ingestion, although it has been used with other toxic alcohols. Ethanol is now regarded as the second choice antidote in those countries with access to the specific ADH blocker, fomepizole.