-
Case Reports
Life-threatening diphenhydramine overdose treated with charcoal hemoperfusion and hemodialysis.
- M E Mullins, R V Pinnick, and J M Terhes.
- Oregon Poison Center, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201-3098, USA.
- Ann Emerg Med. 1999 Jan 1;33(1):104-7.
AbstractWe describe a 35-year-old woman who ingested 16 g (approximately 20 mg/kg) of diphenhydramine with resultant hypotension requiring pressor support and marked QRS prolongation. After treatment with sodium bicarbonate failed to improve cardiac status, the patient underwent emergency charcoal hemoperfusion and hemodialysis with rapid improvement in the ECG findings within the first 40 minutes of treatment and with no further need for pressors. Major texts in toxicology state that diphenhydramine is unsuitable for hemodialysis or charcoal hemoperfusion. However, our case suggests that charcoal hemoperfusion may be appropriate therapy in cases of massive diphenhydramine overdoses when standard supportive measures fail. This case represents the largest documented diphenhydramine overdose that resulted in survival.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*,_underline_or**bold**. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>and subscript<sub>text</sub>. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3., hyphens-or asterisks*. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com) - Images can be included with:
 - For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote..