login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Standard Treatment for Pesticide Poisoning Useless: Study
February 16, 2008 at 4:05 PM
General Health News
Activated charcoal, taken orally, has long been prescribed as an antidote for self-inflicted poisoning, as it is thought to absorb toxins in the stomach and prevent them from entering the bloodstream.
But a large clinical study of 4,500 patients, published in Saturday's issue of The Lancet, has found that the carbon powder has no discernible effect.
A team of researchers led by Michael Eddleston of the Scottish Poisons Information Bureau in Edinburgh compared three different treatments for suicide attempts in rural Sri Lanka in 2002 and 2003.
A third of the subjects were given a single, 50-gramme dose of charcoal, and one third were given six 50-gramme doses at four-hour intervals.
For the last third, activated charcoal was omitted entirely from the treatment administered, according to the study.
Mortality rates for all three groups showed no statistically significant difference, varying by less than one percent. On average, 6.8 percent of the patients died as a result of the poisoning.
The percentage needing intubation for breathing, or suffering from seizures, was likewise similar across the three sets of patients, with a slightly lower incidence among those who received multiple doses of charcoal.
Just over half -- 51 percent -- of the subjects ingested industrial insecticides and 36 percent swallowed toxic seeds from yellow oleander, a common roadside plant throughout most of south Asia.
|
|
|
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
 | Quiz on Poisoning How much do you know about poisoning? Test your knowledge by taking this quiz. 
|
- News Quick Links
 |
Poisoning
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | Cardio-Pulmonary Function can be a Strong Indicator for Survival Chances of Breast Cancer Patients |
| » | Post Surgery Will the Tumour Return? New Breast Cancer Test to Predict Exactly |
| » | Scientists Develop Compound That Triggers Cancer Cell Death |
| » | Iraqi National Hopes to Find Affordable Treatment for His Cancer in India |
| » | New Technique can Help Doctors Detect Pancreatic Cancer |
| More Cancer News | |
|
