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N‐acetylcysteine regimens for paracetamol overdose: Time for a change?
Author(s) -
Wong Anselm,
Graudins Andis
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/1742-6723.12610
Subject(s) - acetylcysteine , medicine , adverse effect , incidence (geometry) , anesthesia , drug overdose , pharmacology , emergency medicine , poison control , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , optics , antioxidant
Paracetamol overdose is one of the commonest pharmaceutical poisonings in the world. For nearly four decades, intravenous acetylcysteine regimens have been used to treat most patients successfully and prevent or mitigate hepatotoxicity. However, the rate of occurrence of adverse reactions to acetylcysteine is quite high, and there is a potential for these to be reduced. Recent studies show that distributing the loading‐dose of acetylcysteine over the first few hours of treatment may decrease the incidence of adverse reactions. In addition, varying the duration of acetylcysteine administration may potentially benefit certain cohorts of poisoned patients, depending on their risk of developing hepatotoxicity.