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The assessment and treatment of theophylline poisoning
Author(s) -
Dawson Andrew H.,
Whyte Ian M.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1989.tb139649.x
Subject(s) - theophylline , toxicity , medicine , acute toxicity , bronchodilator , pharmacology , intensive care medicine , anesthesia , asthma
Theophylline poisoning long has been recognized as difficult to treat and still has an over‐all mortality rate of about 10%. In recent years, the increasing use of sustained‐release preparations has changed the pattern of toxicity. The management of theophylline toxicity is compounded by clinical differences between chronic (overmedication) intoxication and acute single ingestions of a large amount of the drug, inter‐ and intraindividual variability in theophylline metabolism and dose‐dependent kinetics in poisoned patients. Management decisions should be based on both clinical assessment and laboratory information (particularly theophylline concentrations).