Preserving the emetic effect of syrup of ipecac with concurrent activated charcoal administration: a preliminary study

Approach to the poisoned patient

Routine poison management involves the following: (1) stabilization, (2) toxidrome recognition, (3) decontamination, (4) antidote administration, (5) enhanced elimination of toxin, and (6) supportive care. Stabilization involves airway, ventilation, and circulation support. In the patient with altered mental status, oxygen, naloxone, glucose, and thiamine should be administered. Symptom complexes that relate to specific classifications of toxins are referred to as toxidromes. Emesis by means of syrup of ipecac is rarely used for in-hospital gastric decontamination. Activated charcoal is a useful adsorbent for gastric decontamination. Whole bowel irrigation is useful for iron, lead, and lithium poisoning and for the body packer phenomenon. Enhancement of elimination may involve multiple doses of activated charcoal, hemodialysis, or charcoal hemoperfusion.

Oral activated charcoal in the treatment of intoxications. Role of single and repeated doses

Activated charcoal has an ability to adsorb a wide variety of substances. This property can be applied to prevent the gastrointestinal absorption of various drugs and toxins and to increase their elimination, even after systemic absorption. Single doses of oral activated charcoal effectively prevent the gastrointestinal absorption of most drugs and toxins present in the stomach at the time of charcoal administration. Known exceptions are alcohols, cyanide, and metals such as iron and lithium. In general, activated charcoal is more effective than gastric emptying. However, if the amount of drug or poison ingested is very large or if its affinity to charcoal is poor, the adsorption capacity of activated charcoal can be saturated. In such cases properly performed gastric emptying is likely to be more effective than charcoal alone. Repeated dosing with oral activated charcoal enhances the elimination of many toxicologically significant agents, e.g. aspirin, carbamazepine, dapsone, dextropropoxyphene, cardiac glycosides, meprobamate, phenobarbitone, phenytoin and theophylline. It also accelerates the elimination of many industrial and environmental intoxicants. In acute intoxications 50 to 100g activated charcoal should be administered to adult patients (to children, about 1 g/kg) as soon as possible. The exceptions are patients poisoned with caustic alkalis or acids which will immediately cause local tissue damages. To avoid delays in charcoal administration, activated charcoal should be a part of first-aid kits both at home and at work. The 'blind' administration of charcoal neither prevents later gastric emptying nor does it cause serious adverse effects provided that pulmonary aspiration in obtunded patients is prevented. In severe acute poisonings oral activated charcoal should be administered repeatedly, e.g. 20 to 50g at intervals of 4 to 6 hours, until recovery or until plasma drug concentrations have fallen to non-toxic levels. In addition to increasing the elimination of many drugs and toxins even after their systemic absorption, repeated doses of charcoal also reduce the risk of desorbing from the charcoal-toxin complex as the complex passes through the gastrointestinal tract. Charcoal will not increase the elimination of all substances taken. However, as the drug history in acute intoxications is often unreliable, repeated doses of oral activated charcoal in severe intoxications seem to be justified unless the toxicological laboratory has identified the causative agent as not being prone to adsorption by charcoal. The role of repeated doses of oral activated charcoal in chronic intoxication has not been clearly defined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

A clinical trial using syrup of ipecac and activated charcoal concurrently

A prospective study was conducted to determine if the emetic effects of syrup of ipecac are preserved when activated charcoal is administered prior to emesis. Ten overdose patients who fulfilled the entrance criteria for the study were administered 60 mL syrup of ipecac by a nasogastric tube followed immediately by 500 mL of tap water. Ten minutes after the ipecac was administered, an aqueous slurry of 50 g activated charcoal diluted to 500 mL was instilled down the nasogastric tube and the tube was removed. Emetic response and time to emesis were recorded. Thirty minutes after emesis subsided, a second dose of 50 g activated charcoal (with sorbitol) was administered orally. Emetic responses were noted in all ten patients. The patients averaged 3.7 emetic episodes. Emesis commenced in an average of 13.8 minutes from the start of ipecac administration and concluded in an average of 45.9 minutes. These results in patients are similar to those observed in a previously reported volunteer group similarly treated. This protocol allows early administration of activated charcoal while preserving the emetic properties of syrup of ipecac in the patients treated.

The new black magic: activated charcoal and new therapeutic uses

Activated charcoal has been used for centuries as antidotal therapy for poisonings. New variations of charcoal therapy have developed over the last two decades. These modifications include multiple-dose activated charcoal (MDAC) therapy, charcoal hemoperfusion, and a new "superactive" charcoal (SAC). Recent literature suggests using initial charcoal therapy instead of ipecac as a first-line antidotal agent for many acute poisonings. The palatability of charcoal slurries has been enhanced by the addition of carboxymethylcellulose, sucrose, saccharin, chocolate syrup, or sorbitol. The new SAC has shown to adsorb 1.7 to 4 times the amount of substance tested compared with other activated charcoal preparations. Multiple-dose activated charcoal therapy has been shown effective in treating phenobarbital, digoxin, digitoxin, theophylline, and dapsone intoxications, among others. The problems associated with charcoal hemoperfusion therapy have been partially alleviated, and it is now alternative therapy for the seriously intoxicated patient.